UP govt nominates three members to Sunni Central Waqf Board

The government-nominated members of the Board are social worker Sabeeha Ahmed, Sunni cleric and principal of Darul Uloom Firangi Mahal Maulana Naeem-ur-Rehman Siddiqui, and UP Department of Health and Family Welfare’s joint director Dr Tabassum Khan. Speaking to The Indian Express, the department’s special secretary Shiwa Kant Dwivedi confirmed the appointments.

Apart from the nominated members, the others on the Board are its former chairman Zufar Ahmad Farooqui, Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF) Trust member Adnan Farrukh, Samajwadi Party MP from Moradabad ST Hasan, BSP MP from Amroha Kunwar Danish Ali, SP MLA from Isauli (Sultanpur) Abrar Ahmad, SP MLA from Gopalpur (Azamgarh) Nafees Ahmad, and lawyers Imran Mabood and Abdul Razzaq.

The last Board was appointed as per the Waqf Act of 1995 on April 1, 2015, for a five-year term. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the state government extended its term by six months, and on September 30 extended it by six additional months.

On January 25, the Allahabad High Court set aside the state government’s order extending the Board’s term. It appointed the principal secretary of the Minority Welfare and Waqf Department the Board’s administrator, and instructed the official to organise polls are hand over charge to an elected board by February 28.