The Madhya Pradesh High Court has directed the state government to take suitable action against state Waqf Board Chairman Ghufran Azam and its CEO Shafiuddin Syed on a petition alleging irregularities committed by them.
A single bench of the Justice Sanjay Yadav on Monday said that the government has to exercise its power under section 20 of Waqf Act, 1995, and also to take disciplinary action against Shafiuddin Syed for not performing his duties and exercising his powers, as delegated under sections 25 and 26 of the Act.
The petitioner, Abdul Wahid, had said in his petition that action should be taken against Ghufran Azam as he never called Waqf meetings, which should be held at least once each month.
He also alleged that Azam had committed many irregularities because of which there was a need to take action against him.
Imtiaz Hussain, counsel for the petitioner, submitted that he may be given an opportunity to represent the matter to the state government, which is the competent authority under Waqf Act, 1995, for redressal of the grievances raised in the petition.
While disposing of the petition, the court said liberty was given to the petitioner to make a representation before the Madhya Pradesh government, which will decide on the matter in a period of three months.
The court made it clear that it has not expressed any opinion in respect of the the points raised by the petition as these would be looked into by the Madhya Pradesh government.
