LUCKNOW: The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court asked both the Central and the Uttar Pradesh government to clear their stand on the issue of the merger of Shia and Sunni Waqf Boards into a common Muslim Waqf Board.
The court also asked both the governments to pass appropriate orders on a PIL seeking quashing of Shia and Sunni waqf boards in UP and establishing a single waqf board to be called Muslim Waqf Board.
Passing the order on Friday evening, the bench comprising Justice Pankaj Kumar Jaiswal and Justice Alok Mathur explained that it was not passing any order on the merit of the case.
Petitioner Hussain had petitioned the high court seeking disbandment of the two separate waqf boards referring to Section 13 (2) of the Waqf Act.
The Act provides that the state government is empowered to set up separate waqf boards for Shia and Sunni sects only upon the satisfaction of either of two conditions: one, the number of Shia waqfs is more than 15 per cent of all waqfs in the state. Two, the income of the properties of Shia waqfs in the state is more than 15 per cent of the total income of properties of the waqfs in the state.
The petitioner submitted that the said condition is not met in the state and, therefore, the two boards need to be disbanded.
The petitioner claimed that he had moved a representation to the central and state governments on September 24 this year but he did not get a response from both. He also claimed that a single waqf has been envisaged in the Waqf Act of 1995.