New Sunni Waqf Board constituted in UP

The Uttar Pradesh government has nominated three members to the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board, completing the process of electing the body's 11 members.

This came a day after two candidates withdrew their nomination papers, paving the way for the unopposed election of eight members.

The election, in which only Sunni Muslims can contest, was scheduled to be held on Sunday.

According to a government notification issued by UP Minority Welfare and Waqf Department's Additional Chief Secretary, B.L. Meena, the election for the Board's chairperson will be held on Tuesday.

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 Uttar Pradesh Department of Health and Family Welfare's joint director Dr Tabassum Khan.

The department's special secretary Shiva Kant Dwivedi has 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 as the Board's administrator, and instructed the official to organise polls and hand over charge to an elected board by February 28.