Appointment of Wakf Board chief illegal

BANGALORE:  The Karnataka Wakfs Protection Joint Action Committee on Tuesday announced that it will not recognize the membership of the current Chairman (Karnataka Wakf Board)  R  Abdul Riyaz Khan.  The committee condemned the majority members for appointing  Riyaz Khan as chairman who was allegedly disqualified from holding the post of Wakf Board member. The previous Wakf Board was constituted in 2005 for a period of five years and was superseded by the government in January  2010 after allegations of corruption of `20 crore was confirmed in a CoD investigation. Subsequent legal representations by members of the superseded board were rejected by the High Court in October last year. This automatically led to the ineligibility of all members of the previous board to hold the same office again according to the Wakf Act 1995. Inspite of this, Riyaz Khan  managed to get himself elected as the chairman. The JAC accused Riyaz Khan of using his influence as a member of the Bar Council to delay his conviction in a government lodged FIR registered in 2009.“Riyaz Khan has misled the election officer appointed by the government and managed to get himself appointed chairman,” said a spokesperson for JAC. “We shall submit petitions to the Government and the Governor, if no action is taken in 10 days, we shall protest against the appointment at Freedom park,” he added.