In a major development, the Madras High Court shot down the nefarious objective of a mosque to encroach upon 1100 acres of land in Kandiyaperi village in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. For the unversed, the Kanmiya Pallivasal (mosque) had filed a civil suit before the Waqf Tribunal (Tiruneveli Principal Sub Court) in 2011, staking its claim on the large tract of land. Interestingly, the tribunal had passed an order favouring the mosque in August 2016, declaring that the 1100 acres of land belonged to the Muthawalli (trustee) of Kanmiya Pallivasal. The AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu had challenged the decision of the Waqf Tribunal (Tiruneveli Principal Sub Court) in 2018 by filing a civil revision petition before the Madras High Court.
What did the Madras High Court say
The matter came up for hearing before a Bench of Justice M Dhandapani. The court awarded roughly 2.34 acres of land to the Kanmiya Pallivasal but dismissed its unsubstantiated claim to 1100 acres of land.The Judge noted that a grant of 75 Kottahs was given to the mosque by the ruler of Madurai Samasthanam in 1712. A copper plate inscription in Telugu, which read, “Sarva Manyam for Masjid Dharmam”, was provided to the mosque.
The tax-free grant was also registered in the Inam Fair Register for the years 1865-1866. The copper plate was transcribed in 1925 and was established in a judgment in by the Tinnevelly Subordinate Court in 1952. The Madras High Court converted the grant of 75 Kottahs to its modern equivalent of 2.3430 acres. It noted that the mosque’s claim to over 1,000 acres in the 2011 civil suit was based on modern survey numbers. None of these survey were were mentioned in the 1712 grant or in the 1952 judgment. The court found no evidence of when these lands were surveyed and officially linked to the original grant of of Madurai Samasthanam.
Source : Opindia
