Thiruvananthapuram | Kerala General Education Minister N Samsudheen on Saturday said that the new UDF government has the right to reconstitute the State Waqf Board appointed by the previous LDF administration and the same will be done in due course in accordance with law.
Speaking to reporters, Samsudheen claimed that there are "irregularities" in the appointments made to the State Waqf Board by the previous Left government.
With regard to the state's stand in the Kerala High Court on the matter, the minister said that the Advocate General sought dismissal of the four petitions that were challenging the constitution of the Board for various reasons.
Samsudheen, a senior member of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) said that the government's stand has been that it will make changes to the Board if the court directs.
Once the court's decision comes, the government will act accordingly, he said.
The minister also made it clear that the government did not say anything in the High Court about including non-Muslims in the Board.
He also said that if religious leaders, scholars or organisations have any concerns on the issue, the government's stand will be conveyed to them.
Senior IUML leader P M A Salam had on Friday claimed that the UDF government did not inform the High Court that it will include non-Muslims in the state Waqf Board and made it clear that his party was not in favour of any such move.
He had also said that people of one religion should not interfere in the religious matters of another community.
"Muslims cannot be appointed in the Devaswom Boards, people of other religions cannot be included in church administration and just like that inclusion of non-Muslims in the Waqf Board is not right. That has been and continues to be the stand of the IUML," he had contended.
The remarks come in the wake of a Kerala High Court interim order of July 15 restraining the State Waqf Board from taking any major decision without its permission.
The High Court had observed that section 14 of the United Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development Act, which mandates the inclusion of non-Muslim members on the Board, has not been stayed by the Supreme Court.
Therefore, the constitution of the Kerala State Waqf Board prima facie appeared to be not in conformity with the statutory mandate, as non-Muslims were not included in it, the court had said.
Following the High Court order, the opposition CPI(M) accused the UDF government of "completely surrendering" to the BJP by deciding to implement the amended Waqf Act, including the provision for appointing two non-Muslim members to the State Waqf Board.