Kerala Waqf Board property: A disputed deed and a dwelling place   Premium

Fisherman in crisis due to property title deed issues in coastal village, facing financial constraints and uncertain future.

Sebastian Antony Valiyaveetil, a 52-year-old fisherman from the coastal village of Munambam in Ernakulam district, is unsure of how to tide over the crisis in which he has found himself. 

Convalescing from a recent road accident that rendered him jobless for the past few months, Antony Valiyaveetil is struggling to meet the growing expenses, including the medical costs. Tension is writ large over the weather-beaten face of the family’s sole breadwinner. 

“Earlier, we used to raise money for emergency needs from the nearby cooperative societies by pledging the property’s title deed. Financial institutions in the region have stopped accepting title deeds of properties located in Wards 1 and 23 of Pallippuram panchayat as collateral security for two years, forcing many families into a quandary. It was the litigation over the nature of the holding and the legality of its possession that has forced the banks to reject the documents,” says Antony Valiyaveetil, as he runs his fingers over the scars of the wound in the right leg, which has a metal implant in it. 

“The house leaks when it rains. We couldn’t mend it on time due to financial constraints. The financial situation has turned worse following the accident,” says Daliya, his wife, as she leans on the wall of the portico of the indistinctive house located on the side of the coastal road for support. 

P.B. Chandrika, their 55-year-old neighbour, is faced with a similar predicament. A part-time worker at a local catering unit, this widow is worried about what will befall her family if asked to vacate the house in which she had been living for the past four decades. 

“Some say that this is a Waqf property [Waqf is the dedication of a property for any purpose recognised by Muslim law as a pious, religious or charitable one. While the Waqf property would remain inalienable, the income of the Waqf shall be spent for education, development, welfare and such other purposes as recognised by the Muslim law]. I inherited this property from my father who purchased it from the Farook College authorities,” she says. 

Incidentally, Mohammed Siddique Sait, an affluent Muslim trader, had dedicated the expansive property spread over 404.76 acres for Waqf on November 1, 1950 to the managing committee of Farook College, Kozhikode, for educational purposes.