Uttar Pradesh: Wasim Rizvi no longer Muslim, Shia Waqf Board to initiate sacking next week

Ayodhya: The Shia Central Waqf Board, Uttar Pradesh, has summoned a crucial meeting of its members on December 14 to initiate proceedings to sack the former Board chairman, Wasim Rizvi, who embraced ‘Sanatan Dharma’ on Monday and assumed a Hindu name — Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi.
“Rizvi is no longer a Shia Muslim after he publicly renounced Islam. And his membership stands cancelled under Section 16(A) of Waqf Act, which clearly lays down that only a Shia Muslim is eligible to contest and remain a board member,” Board chairman Ali Zaidi told TOI.
Rizvi, who successfully contested and won membership of the Shia waqf board on the mutawalli quota in April this year, is embroiled in corruption and facing inquiry from various probe agencies, including Central Bureau of Investigation.
Talking to TOI, Maulana Syed Raza Hussain Rizvi, member of Shia Waqf Board, said, “The Waqf Act is very clear. You have to be a Muslim to retain membership of the board. The same condition applies to mutawallis of waqf properties.” Rizvi is currently the mutawalli of two prime waqf properties in Old Lucknow — Waqf Miyan Daraab Ali Khan and Waqf Malka Jahan Karbala. Sources told TOI, the Shia Board will also invoke the Waqf Act to disqualify Rizvi’s mutawalli status.
Talking to TOI, Board chairman Ali Zaidi, said, “We will give a representation to the state government to immediately annul Rizvi’s waqf board membership as the government is endowed with the power to appoint and sack a member. We are also seeking legal opinion to cancel his mutawalli status. We will discuss this issue threadbare at the Board meeting on December 14.”
The procedure to annul waqf board membership includes passage of a resolution at the board meeting and a representation to the government through the department of minorities affairs. The government may allow a hearing of the under-fire member before passing the sack order, said Zaidi.
Another elected board member, Faizi, said, “Wasim Rizvi under no circumstances can remain a mutawalli as he’s no longer a Shia Muslim. And the Waqf Act exemplifies this.”