Reorganization of the State Waqf Board by Andhra Pradesh Government
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Amaravati, Dec 6 (NationPress) The Andhra Pradesh government has reestablished the State Waqf Board with the appointment of eight members on Friday, exactly one week after the previous Board was dissolved.
The Minorities Welfare Department issued a Government Order (GO) to appoint eight members in accordance with Sub-Section (9) of Section 14 and Section 21 of the Waqf Act, 1995, along with its 2013 amendments (Act 27 of 2013).
In the elected members category, the government appointed Member of Legislative Council Md Ruhullah and Mutawalli Shaik Khaja.
The government also selected TDP leader Abdul Aziz, Shia scholar Haji Mukarram Hussain, and Sunni scholar Mohammad Ismail Baig as nominees.
Three additional members were nominated under Section 14 (3): MLA Mohammed Naseer, Syed Dawood Basha Baqavi, and Shaik Akram.
According to the GO, one of these members will be elected to serve as the chairperson of the Board.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has already designated Abdul Aziz as the chairman, and members are anticipated to elect him during an upcoming meeting.
The TDP-led NDA government reconstituted the Waqf Board just a week after dissolving the previous Board that had been formed last year by the YSR Congress Party government.
On November 30, the Minorities Welfare Department issued a GO that annulled the previous GO from October of last year, which had established the Waqf Board.
The prior government of the YSR Congress Party had formed an 11-member Waqf Board, comprising three elected members and the rest nominated.
Following a petition contesting the process used to form the Waqf Board, the Andhra Pradesh High Court issued a stay order on November 1, 2023, preventing the election of the chairperson of the State Waqf Board.
GO 75, released on November 30, stated that the Chief Executive Officer of the State Waqf Board alerted the government about the long-standing inactivity of the Board and the outstanding writ petitions challenging the legality of GO Ms. No. 47 to resolve the ongoing litigations and avert an administrative void.
Minister for Minority Welfare N. Md. Farooq remarked that due to legal complications, there was a void in the operations of the Waqf Board, and to address this, the coalition government issued a new GO, nullifying the previous one.
After some media outlets and BJP leader Amit Malviya claimed that the state government had disbanded the Waqf Board, the government clarified that a new Board would be formed promptly.
The Fact Check Wing of the state government published a clarification on X in response to a post by Amit Malviya.
"The Andhra Pradesh government has abolished the Waqf Board. There is no constitutional provision that supports its existence in a secular India," Malviya commented, responding to a news channel report stating that the Andhra Pradesh government had disbanded the Waqf Board.
The BJP and Jana Sena are coalition partners in the government led by the TDP.
