SC seeks AAP government’s response on Amanatullah as wakf head

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday sought response from the

Delhi government

on an

appeal

challenging the appointment of Okhla MLA

Amanutallah Khan

as a member of

Delhi Wakf Board

and the AAP leader’s subsequent election as chairman of the board.


Appearing for petitioner Mohd Irshad, advocate Prashant Bhushan told a bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna that Khan’s appointment to the Wakf Board violated the principle of institutional integrity, which has been articulated in several SC judgments.

The petitioner said Khan, during his previous tenure as member and chairperson of the board in 2016, was accused of “massive corruption, irregularities and illegalities” and because of this two members of the board had tendered their resignation. The bench issued notice to the Delhi government and Wakf Board and sought their responses in six weeks.

The Wakf Board violated the mandatory provision for appointment of at least one member from the electoral college of Muslim Members of Parliament from Delhi, the petitioner said. When no such Muslim MP is available, the provision says that such former MP could be made a member, the petitioner said and claimed that there was no such person as member in the board.