KOZHIKODE: The controversy over the dissolution of the LDF-appointed Waqf Board deepened on Sunday, with new chairperson M C Mayin Haji asserting the disputed Munambam land is Waqf property. His stand contradicts Chief Minister V D Satheesan, who has maintained the land does not belong to the Waqf.
Mayin Haji said Munambam residents should not be evicted, even as he maintained that the disputed land belongs to the Waqf. He said the case is now before the Waqf Tribunal and no longer under the Waqf Board’s consideration.
“However, I stand by my party’s position that Munambam residents should not be evicted from their homes,” he told TNIE.
In a related development, the IUML leadership moved to pacify the Kanthapuram faction of Sunnis, assuring that those left out of the Waqf Board would be accommodated in the Hajj Committee and Madrassa Welfare Board.
IUML state president Panakkad Syed Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal said all Muslim organisations had been represented in the reconstituted Board. “Those who were left out can be accommodated in other committees,” he said.
“The Kanthapuram faction’s representative is currently the Hajj Committee chairperson and has not been removed from the post,” Thangal said.
He added that M P Musthafal Faizi, who was suspended from the mushawara of the Samastha Kerala Jem-Iyyathul Ulama, had been included in the Waqf Board as the organisation’s representative. “One need not be a mushawara member to serve on the Waqf Board. Faizi is a scholar and also represents that category,” he said.
Meanwhile, Local Self-Government Minister K M Shaji said he was unaware of whom the government had consulted before reconstituting the Board. Referring to the Kanthapuram faction’s planned protests on October 22, he said, “We will ensure there is no open protest against the government.”
Meanwhile, a petition seeking an FIR against Mayin Haji is likely to come up before the High Court next week. Filed by T M Abdul Salam on October 15, the petition alleges misappropriation of public money, mismanagement, abuse of power and illegal appointments in the Waqf Board. It accuses Mayin Haji and others of illegally appointing four persons to the Board.