StatesKeralam
Keralam dissolves Waqf Board named by LDF, IUML's Mayin Haji takes charge
The board set up in March had more than four years left. Its chairman's challenge is still pending in the High Court, and the Kanthapuram Sunni faction finds itself shut out of the new panel.
Key points
- A government order on Friday dissolved the K S Hamsa-led board and named a nine-member committee.
- IUML state vice-president M C Mayin Haji and six members took office on Saturday.
- The A P Sunni faction led by Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker Musliyar has no seat on the new board.
Keralam’s government has dissolved the state Waqf Board set up by the previous Left Democratic Front government only seven months ago and installed a new one headed by M C Mayin Haji, state vice-president of the Indian Union Muslim League, who took charge on Saturday.
The order, issued on Friday, wound up the board chaired by K S Hamsa, which the LDF had constituted in March and which had more than four years of its term left. It named a nine-member committee in its place. Haji and six other members assumed office on Saturday.
The decision came while Hamsa’s petition against the reconstitution was still pending before the Kerala High Court.
Who is on the new board
Besides Haji, who has served on the board before, the order names Kurukkoli Moideen, an IUML leader and MLA, Musthafal Faizi, Siras D Capsi, Thodiyoor Muhammed Kunju Maulavi, Sajna Firoz, Jaseem Sabaha, Dr Abdul Majeed Swalahi and C Madina Begham.
Representatives of the Mujahid faction have been included, but the A P Sunni faction led by Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker Musliyar has no one on the board. The government has also not appointed the two non-Muslim members required under the amended Waqf law, as a challenge to the law is before the Supreme Court.
Minister cites court cases
Waqf Minister N Samsudheen defended the move. He said the previous government had itself reorganised the board, and that two or three cases in the High Court alleging that the board had not functioned properly had been reopened. The reconstitution was carried out at the court’s request, he said, and “the Waqf Board was reconstituted by exercising that authority available to the government”.
The change comes as protests continue against the Centre’s amendments to the Waqf law and disputes over Waqf property run on in the state.
Haji’s first words
Haji said protecting Waqf property would be his priority, along with settling disputes within the community amicably. “Every measure will be taken to ensure that not a single property is lost,” he said.
He said the board’s role in the Munnambam land dispute was over and that the tribunal, the High Court and other judicial bodies would now have to decide such matters. He did not distance the new board from its predecessors. “We cannot stand apart from the decisions that all former boards have taken,” he said.