Kozhikode: The Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama, the top body of Sunnis in Kerala, has criticised the Kerala government’s stand in the ongoing legal dispute over the Waqf Board, alleging that the state’s position in the High Court effectively supported petitioners with no direct connection to the Waqf system.

In a Facebook post, Sathar Panthaloor, a member of the Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama Coordination Council, questioned why the state government’s counsel had taken a position that, according to him, appeared to back the petitioners challenging the existing Waqf Board.

“Waqf property is a charitable endowment made by followers of Islam solely to seek acceptance from God. The Waqf Board is the statutory mechanism entrusted with protecting and administering these properties. It is clear that the four parties who approached the Kerala High Court questioning the existing Waqf Board have no connection with the Waqf system. There is also no dispute that these petitions are politically motivated. Anyone who examines who the petitioners are will understand this. In such a situation, on whose behalf has the state government’s lawyer chosen to support these petitioners? Whose interests is this move intended to protect?” Panthaloor wrote.

The remarks come in the wake of the Kerala High Court’s interim order imposing temporary restrictions on the functioning of the Kerala State Waqf Board while considering public interest litigations challenging the non-inclusion of two non-Muslim members on the Board. Among the petitioners is BJP leader Shone George.

The High Court’s interim order has already been challenged before the Supreme Court by another Samastha leader Umer Faizi Mukkam, who has sought its intervention against the restrictions imposed on the Waqf Board.

The controversy centres on the composition and functioning of the Kerala State Waqf Board, with Samastha maintaining that the petitions are politically driven and objecting to what it sees as the Kerala government’s stance in the High Court proceedings.