Kerala Waqf Board seeks impleadment in Tamil Nadu Board case before Supreme Court
New Delhi: Kerala Waqf Board has filed an application to implead itself in the case filed by Tamil Nadu Government against the Madras High order to freeze the Tamil Nadu Waqf Board due to non-inclusion of non-Muslims in the Board.
The step by the Kerala Waqf Board comes amidst reports that the Kerala Waqf Board, consisting of nominees of the previous LDF government, is likely to be dissolved by the current UDF government.
However, the petition filed now is likely to be taken up only in October together with the Tamil Nadu government's plea which has been adjourned for October.
In the Kerala Waqf Board petition that supports the position taken by the TN Waqf Board, it pleaded that there is a provision in the new Waqf Act for the body to take decisions and proceed even if there are only five members on it and not necessarily 11 members, and as such the Board's functioning cannot be stayed just because it is short of two non-Muslim nominees.
Kerala Waqf Board chairman KS Hamza told Madhyamam in Delhi that the existence of vacancies or the fact the Board is not complete now is no reason for blocking its activities. Hamza said that the Kerala Waqf Board is facing the same legal hurdle that TN Waqf is facing. He also alleged that the position taken by the present Kerala government is similar to the one taken by Shone George of the BJP and 'CASA' (Christian Association and Alliance for Social Action) which has been advocating inclusion of non-Muslim members on the Waqf Board.
In its petition submitted through Advocate KR SubhashChandran, Kerala Waqf Board pleaded that the Board was frozen not by pointing out any failure or irregularity in its functioning, and the current stalemate is only due to the technical issue of having vacancies in the body.
Madras High Court had stopped the operations of TN Waqf Board pointing out that the constitution of the Board was not complete.
When Tamil Nadu Waqf Board approached the Supreme Court, the latter stayed the order of Madras High Court. But the Kerala High Court on July 15, imposed a bar on Kerala Waqf Board saying that the absence of two non-Muslim members makes its constitution incomplete.