New Delhi, Apr 1 (PTI) The Delhi High Court Friday sought the stand of the Lieutenant Governor and Delhi Government on a plea by Delhi Waqf Board Chairman Amanatullah Khan seeking direction to decide two representations seeking removal of three members of the board.
Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri issued notice to the LG and Delhi government on the petition and listed the matter for further hearing on April 5.
Khan, against whom a ‘notice of no-confidence motion’ was submitted by four of the board to the Lieutenant Governor’s office, said the board has sent two representations on December 27, 2021, and March 7, 2022, seeking the removal of three members but no action has been taken by the state government yet.
He urged that the representations be decided on an exigent basis before acting upon the ‘notice of no-confidence motion’ of March 3, 2022, given against him as Chairman of the Delhi Waqf Board.
Delhi government was represented through advocate Sameer Vashisht in the matter.
Four of the seven Delhi Waqf Board members on March 4, submitted the notice of no-confidence motion against Khan to the LG’s office, levelling allegations of corruption, illegal recruitment, and high-handedness against him.
The four members also asked LG Anil Baijal to convene a Board meeting within 18 days to decide on the no-confidence motion.
Khan, AAP MLA from Okhla, had termed the allegations against him “false”.
Khan, in his petition through advocate M Sufian Siddiqui, said “The Delhi Waqf Board vide its letter… requested the Divisional Commissioner, Department of Revenue to take the necessary action as per Section 20 of the Waqf Act, 1995 for removal of Chaudhary Shareef Ahmad as member of the Delhi Waqf Board. Copy of the aforesaid letter was also sent to the LG, which was received on December 30, 2021.” It further said the Delhi Waqf Board sent representations to the LG, the Revenue Minister, and the Divisional Commissioner pointing out that Parvez Hashmi has not attended even a single meeting after becoming a member of the board and Chaudhary Shareef Ahmad is disqualified from continuing as a member of the board.
“In those representations, the Delhi Waqf Board sought that immediate directions be issued for the removal of those two members from the membership of the Delhi Waqf Board by publishing in the Official Gazette as provided under Section 20 of the Waqf Act, 1995. However, till date no action has been taken by the State Government on the aforesaid representations,” the plea claimed.
The ‘notice of no-confidence motion’ was signed by former Congress MP Parvez Hashmi, Chaudhary Shareef Ahmad, Razia Sultana, and Naeem Fatima Kazmi. All four are members of the Delhi Waqf Board.
The petition said, “it is expedient that the State Government should first examine and decide the representations given by the Delhi Waqf Board for removal of its members before taking any precipitous action on the ‘notice of no-confidence motion’ filed against the petitioner for the solitary reason that if the members instrumental in moving the ‘notice of no-confidence motion’ are themselves not eligible to continue as members of the board, then the purported ‘notice of no- confidence motion’ would be rendered wholly otiose and as such vitiated.” PTI SKV RKS RKS
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