LG stalls constitution of Waqf Board without valid reason: Sisodia

NEW DELHI:After obstructing the Doorstep Delivery of Services and Quality Health for All schemes, Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal has now put on hold the constitution of the Delhi Waqf Board without any valid reason, said Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia during a press conference at Delhi Secretariat in New Delhi on Wednesday. Tribune photo

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 10

After obstructing the Doorstep Delivery of Services and Quality Health for All schemes, Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal has now put on hold the constitution of the Delhi Waqf Board without any valid reason, said Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.

The LG took this decision following the Delhi High Court order issued on November 10, 2017, passed in WP (C) 9980/2017 Rana Parween Siddiqui vs Union of India in which the court had directed that the vacancy in respect of the fourth member should not be filled till further directions. But the court did not stay the process for the constitution of the board, and its order merely confines to the fourth member mentioned above, Sisodia said.

The process of constituting the Delhi Waqf Board in accordance with the provisions of Section 14 of the Waqf Act 1995, has been pending since more than a year now, after the previous Lieutenant Governor, Najeeb Jung had dissolved the board “illegally and usurped the powers of the board to run it through his officers in complete violation of the law”, he said.

After following all legal processes, the returning officer completed the due process for the election of three members of the board on November 20, 2017. The names of the three nominated members for the board were also approved by the LG himself on December 7, 2017, Sisodia said.

It is surprising and beyond any reasonable understanding that the LG has taken the view that the constitution of the Waqf Board should be done only after the disposal of the case in the Delhi High Court.

The view taken by the LG is seriously hampering the functioning of the Waqf Board and imams of various mosques are not getting their salaries, he said.

The LG’s decision appears to be merely an attempt to delay the constitution of the elected board in accordance with law, and gives rise to a reasonable view that it is being done to allow the officers selected by him to continue administering the Waqf Board, he said.