Last week, the Kerala High Court directed the State Waqf Board not to take any major decisions without its permission after the V D Satheesan-led government, represented by Advocate General Jaju Babu, informed the court that there was a need to reconstitute the board “in strict compliance with the mandate of Section 14” of the amended law.

In an affidavit, the State Waqf Board said: “… the government is prepared to reconstitute the Board strictly in compliance with the mandate of Section 14 of the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development (UMEED) Act, 1995.”

On Tuesday, while considering the state Waqf Board’s appeal against the Kerala High Court directive, the Supreme Court quashed a portion of the high court order which entrusted the day-to-day operations of the board to a joint secretary.

When the BJP-led Centre enacted the amended Waqf law introducing several reforms, including provisions for the inclusion of non-Muslims in State Waqf Boards, all non-BJP governments had opposed the changes. In Kerala, the Assembly had also passed a resolution against the amendments.

What has further embarrassed the IUML and the UDF is that the state government supported the reconstitution of the board in a batch of petitions, including one filed by BJP state vice-president Shone George. The Association of Christian Trust Services (ACTS), a Christian organisation, was another petitioner.

George argued that the previous CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, while reconstituting the board earlier this year after the amended Act came into force, had failed to include the two non-Muslim members mandated under the law. The LDF government had adopted a tactical approach by not nominating non-Muslim members or a representative from the Shia Muslim community.

The IUML, which has stood firmly behind the Satheesan-led UDF on recent political controversies, maintains that the government has not agreed to appoint non-Muslims to the board.

“The government has told the court that it will examine whether the constitution of the board conforms to the law. It has not agreed to nominate two non-Muslims. From the time the Waqf Amendment Bill was introduced in Parliament, the IUML has consistently opposed the inclusion of non-Muslims in the board. There is no change in our stand,” IUML state general secretary P M A Salam said.

However, CPI(M) leader and former Law Minister P Rajeev said the government’s affidavit effectively endorsed Section 14 of the amended law.

“The government’s affidavit fully endorses Section 14, which could eventually reduce Muslims to a minority on the board. The IUML is not safeguarding the interests or religious beliefs of the community. Its only interest is to fill the board with its loyalists. The affidavit and the subsequent High Court order have virtually nullified the state’s challenge to the amendments. Kerala had argued before the Supreme Court that Section 14 is unconstitutional and infringes upon religious rights,” Rajeeve added.

In its petition before the Supreme Court challenging the amendments, the previous LDF government had argued that only Muslims should serve on State Waqf Boards, as these bodies are entrusted with administering religious endowments and properties belonging to the Muslim community.

Muslim bodies hit out

The Samastha Kerala Jem-iyyathul Ulama, considered close to the IUML, has also criticised the UDF government’s stand in the High Court. In an editorial, its mouthpiece Suprabhatham described the advocate general’s submission as “a matter of concern for secular Kerala” and noted that Congress governments in other states had not taken a similar position favouring reconstitution of Waqf Boards under the amended law.