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The top court questioned whether the High Court should have made factual findings while the matter was pending before the tribunal.

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The Supreme Court on Friday stayed a Kerala High Court order declaring that the 404.76-acre Munambam property is not waqf land and directed that status quo be maintained until January 27, Live Law reported.

A Bench of Justices Manoj Misra and Ujjal Bhuyan, however, clarified that the stay does not apply to the High Court’s separate observation upholding the Kerala government’s decision to appoint a one-member Commission of Inquiry to examine the nature and extent of the disputed land.

The directions were issued while hearing a Special Leave Petition filed by Kerala Waqf Samrakshana Vedi challenging the High Court verdict. The bench said the matter required consideration and issued notice returnable in the week commencing January 27.

Senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, appearing for the petitioner, argued that the High Court had exceeded the scope of the writ petition, which only challenged the constitution of the inquiry commission. He submitted that questions relating to the 1950 endowment deed and the status of the land fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the waqf tribunal, where proceedings are pending.

Opposing the plea, the state said the petitioner was a third party and that the commission had already submitted its report. Counsel representing residents of the land and other parties told the court that earlier civil court decrees had held the property was not waqf land.

The Supreme Court questioned whether the High Court was the appropriate forum to make factual findings when related proceedings were pending before the tribunal, observing that the Division Bench appeared to have gone beyond what the case required.

The dispute relates to land in Ernakulam district transferred in 1950 to the Farook College Managing Committee. In 2019, the Kerala Waqf Board declared the land waqf property, triggering protests and prolonged litigation.