New Delhi: The Delhi government on Wednesday accused lieutenant-governor Anil Baijal of “stalling” the constitution of the city’s Waqf Board, which was dissolved in October 2016 on charges of “irregularities.” Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia alleged Mr Baijal was using a Delhi high court order as an alibi to not form the seven member-board, elections to which have been completed.
Mr Sisodia went on to question Mr Baijal’s motive behind his objection and wondered why successive lieutenant-governors have shown “undue interest” in the affairs of the Waqf Board, which looks after the Waqf properties in Delhi. He said the Imams are being deprived of their salaries due to the imbroglio. The Waqf Board comprises four elected and three nominated members.
Mr Sisodia said Mr Baijal had cleared the names of the three nominated members last month and the process for electing the rest was also complete. “However, the Delhi high court has ordered that one member, who is to be a Muslim Bar Council of Delhi representative shall not be filled till further directions. “But nowhere did the high court say that the formation of the Board has to be brought to a halt. The L-G is using that as an excuse to delay the process which is beyond our understanding,” Mr Sisodia said.
The Raj Niwas has not yet responded to the allegations, but the latest spat marks another low in the relationship between the Arvind Kejriwal government and the Lt Governor’s office. The then LG Najeeb Jung had, in October 2016, dissolved the board constituted by the Kejriwal-led government and referred the matter related to “irregularities” in it to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
There were also corruption charges regarding appointments made to the board under the tenure of AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan and the city’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had launched a probe into an alleged “recruitment scam” in the body.
