Rajasthan High Court cancels nominations of Muslim Waqf Board chairman, 2 members

Jaipur: The Rajasthan High Court has canceled the nomination of two Rajasthan Muslim Waqf Board members, Nida Khan and Syed Afroz Zaidi, along with its chairman Abubakar Naqvi.  On Monday, judge MN Bhandari gave this verdict on a petition filed by Sayed Nazir Hassan. Thus, the three men will now be ineligible for the posts they held until now.

It was mentioned in the petition that as per the Waqf Act 1995 the eligibility criteria for appointing the chairman and members of the Board are fixed. The petitioner challenged that the three men do not fulfill the criteria hence their appointment should be canceled. Significantly, they were nominated for the 9 March 2016 by a notification.

According to the 1995 Act, a person who is a member has to be associated with social work, town planning, and developmental work. Apart from this, women who are religious scholars and who have spiritual knowledge can also become members. The three members did not have the right qualifications under the Waqf Act.

The chairman took retirement from the PTI post in 2016. After this, he was made a member than a chairman in spite of him not being a social worker. Apart from this, Nida Khan is an MA while Syed Afroz Zaidi is also only a graduate. They do not have religious or spiritual qualifications hence are ineligible for the posts they held.