Thiruvananthapuram

Kerala Chief Minister V D Satheesan on Wednesday said that the previous Left government delayed constitution of the state Waqf Board and that led to the current problems related to the implementation of the amended Waqf Act in appointing members to it.

Satheesan, at a press conference here, said that the tenure of the previous Board ended on December 14, 2024 and the then government had told the Kerala High Court on November 29, 2024 that the new Board will be constituted within four months.

He said that usually the process to reconstitute the Board starts before its tenure expires.

"However, the Left government waited till the Act was amended on April 8, 2025 and reconstituted the Board in February 2026. Had it been reconstituted before the amendment, it would have remained in operation till expiry of its tenure and by then the courts would have given a decision regarding the amendment," the CM said.

"If they had not delayed the Board reconstitution, we would not have been facing the problems that we are now," he added.

Satheesan claimed that the then LDF government delayed reconstitution of the Board as under the earlier Waqf Act, opposition party members would also be a part of it.

He further said that recently when the constitution of the current Board was challenged in the High Court, the government sought that the pleas be dismissed.

He said that when the Board went in appeal to the Supreme Court against the High Court order, it told the apex court that the government had sought dismissal of the petitions.

The Board also told the Supreme Court that two non-Muslims will be appointed in the body and that the current government was not doing so as it had just come to power, the CM said.

Satheesan claimed that when the apex court sent the matter back to the High Court, it did not interfere with section 14 of the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development Act which mandates the inclusion of non-Muslims.

"The Supreme Court said that maximum three non-Muslims can be appointed and minimum two. Otherwise the maximum was seven," he claimed.

"So, the High Court is hearing the matter. Let its decision come. Then we will act accordingly. There is no urgency now," he said.

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Last week, opposition leader Pinarayi Vijayan had accused Satheesan and the UDF of doing "Sangh Parivar seva" by agreeing to implement the amended Waqf Act, allowing the appointment of non-Muslims to the Waqf board.

He had also alleged that the UDF and Satheesan have "openly surrendered" to the Sangh Parivar and toed its agenda.