Govt to dissolve existing Waqf Board, cites ineligibility of members

KOCHI: The government will dissolve the existing Waqf Board. The action was initiated following assessments that several members do not possess the prescribed qualifications and that there is inadequate representation on the board. The notification of the dissolution is expected to be issued soon. The board is being dissolved with around four and a half years of its term still remaining.

The Waqf Board, chaired by K S Hamza, was constituted last March for a five-year term. Of the 11-member board, only nine were appointed. The board will be reconstituted in accordance with Supreme Court directives and the amendments to the Waqf Act.

The high court had earlier imposed interim restrictions on the functioning of the state Waqf Board. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice V M Shyam Kumar had directed that the board should not take policy-related or major decisions or incur capital expenditure without the court's permission. It also ordered that the board function under the supervision of the joint secretary in charge of Waqf affairs.

The court was considering pleas filed by BJP state vice-president Shone George and the Assembly of Christian Trust Services (ACTS), challenging the failure to include two non-Muslim members and a Shia member in the Kerala Waqf Board under the new law.

Under the 2025 amendment, the Waqf Board must include two non-Muslim members. The petitioners also sought the cancellation of the board's reconstitution, arguing that two member posts had been left vacant.