150 residents of a Tamil Nadu village get notice from Dargah over Waqf land

Chennai: They have been living in Kattukollai village in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore district for the past four generations and possess documents to show that they own the land on which their houses stand. But a notice issued by the Syed Ali Sultan Shah Dargah in Virinchipuram recently claimed that they have been living on Waqf property and that they should pay rent for occupying the land. 

As many as 150 families in Kattukollai village in Anaikattu taluk have now approached the Vellore District Collector seeking urgent intervention in the issue. The move comes just weeks after both houses of Parliament passed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, to “enhance transparency, accountability, and efficiency in managing Waqf properties.” 

F Syed Satham, caretaker of the dargah, told DH that he issued the notice to villagers two months ago, while claiming that the land in the village belongs to the Waqf Board since 1954. “I have enough documents to prove that the land belongs to the dargah. I issued the notice seeking rent from the villagers for occupying the waqf land,” he said over a telephone call. 

Satham, who took control of the dargah and mosque in 2021 after his father’s death, also said he might even move the courts on the issue if the villagers don’t pay rent for occupying properties belonging to the Waqf Board. 

“The villagers know the fact. We spoke to them and they have to pay the rent for the land,” he added. 

The issue came to light after functionaries of the Hindu Munnani took the villagers to the district collector’s office and submitted a petition. Praveen Kumar, a functionary of Hindu Munnani, said the villagers have been living in the hamlet for generations together and there was no way the lands could be part of the Waqf Board. 

“The district administration has issued documents for the land saying that it is owned by the government. We don’t believe the claims by the Waqf Board,” Kumar said. 

After the issue grabbed media headlines, Vellore District Collector V R Subbulakshmi has held talks with the villagers and Satham of the dargah to bring about an amicable solution to the problem. The district administration has asked the villagers to not pay rent for now. 

This is not the first time that such a controversy has erupted. In 2022, the Tamil Nadu Waqf Board had claimed that about 400 acres of land in Tiruchendurai village in Tiruchirapalli district, including a Chola era temple, as it own.