Kochi, Aug 19 The Kerala High Court on Wednesday granted six weeks time to the state government to fill up the vacancies in the State Waqf Board.
A bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Syam Kumar V M issued the direction while hearing several PILs, including one by BJP leader Shone George, alleging that the functioning of the Board was illegal as it did not have two non-Muslim members as mandated by the relevant Act.
The bench directed the government to take "expeditious steps" to fill the remaining vacancies in the Board and any other decisions it may deem fit regarding constitution of the statutory body, a court source said.
At the same time, the court also said it was not going into the issue as to whether the Board requires to be reconstituted in accordance with the amended Waqf Act.
During the hearing, Advocate General (AG) Jaju Babu, representing the state, told the bench that the issue of appointing non-Muslims to the Board, as provided under section 14 of the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development Act of 1995, is being considered by the Supreme Court.
The government, in an affidavit, also told the court that with regard to allegations in the PILs regarding non-inclusion of one member each from among the Shia, Sunni, Bohra, Aghakhani and backward class Muslim communities, such representation can be provided only after determining their numbers in the state.
It said instructions have been issued to the Chief Executive Officer of the State Waqf Board to carry out a detailed determination of the numbers of each of those communities.
Taking note of the submissions on behalf of the government, the court listed the matter for September 30 and directed that steps be taken to fill the remaining vacancies in the Board by then.
