Andhra Pradesh government reconstitutes State Waqf Board
The Andhra Pradesh government reconstituted the State Waqf Board with the appointment of eight members on Friday, a week after dissolving the earlier Board.
Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh government reconstituted the State Waqf Board with the appointment of eight members on Friday, a week after dissolving the earlier Board.
Minorities Welfare Department issued a Government Order (GO) appointing eight members under Sub-Section (9) of Section 14 and Section 21 of the Waqf Act, 1995 read with amendment 2013 (Act 27 of 2013).
Under the elected members category, the government appointed Member of Legislative Council Md Ruhullah and Mutawalli Shaik Khaja.
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The government also nominated TDP leader Abdul Aziz, Shia scholar Haji Mukarram Hussain and Sunni scholar Mohammad Ismail Baig.
Three other members were nominated by invoking section 14 (3). They are MLA Mohammed Naseer, Syed Dawood Basha Baqavi and Shaik Akram.
According to the GO, one of the members will be elected as chairperson of the Board.
As the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has already announced Abdul Aziz as the chairman of Waqf Board, the members at a meeting to be convened soon are likely to elect him for the post.
The TDP-led NDA government reconstituted the Waqf Board a week after dissolving the earlier Board constituted last year by then YSR Congress Party government.
The Minorities Welfare Department on November 30 issued a GO, withdrawing the GO issued in October last year, constituting the Waqf Board.
The then government of YSR Congress Party had constituted the 11-member Waqf Board. Three of them were elected members while the remaining were nominated.
On a petition challenging the process followed to constitute the Waqf Board, the Andhra Pradesh High Court on November 1, 2023, stayed the election of the chairperson of the State Waqf Board.
The GO 75 issued on November 30 mentioned that the Chief Executive Officer of the State Waqf Board brought to the government’s attention the prolonged non-functioning of the Board and the pendency of writ petitions questioning the legality of GO Ms. No. 47 to resolve the litigations and prevent an administrative vacuum.
Minister for Minority Welfare N. Md. Farooq had stated that due to legal issues, there was a vacuum in the functioning of the Waqf Board and to overcome that, the coalition government issued a new GO, withdrawing the earlier GO.
After certain sections in the media and BJP leader Amit Malviya claimed that the state government abolished the Waqf Board, the government clarified that a new Board will be constituted at the earliest.
The Fact Check Wing of the state government posted the clarification X while reacting to a post by Amit Malviya.
“Andhra Pradesh government strikes down the Waqf Board. There is no provision in the Constitution, which supports the existence of one in a secular India,” Malviya posted while reacting to a news channel’s report that the Andhra Pradesh government abolished Waqf Board.
The BJP and the Jana Sena are partners in the coalition government headed by the TDP.
