Recruits to Waqf Board only after considering views of Muslim organisations: Kerala CM

Thiruvananthapuram: Reaching out to Muslim organisations over appointments to the Waqf Board, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said the decision on the appointments would be taken only after considering the views of the organisations concerned.

At a meeting with various Muslim community leaders, he said the State government was open-minded on the issue and that arrangements would be made to recruit qualified candidates to the board.

Also, he said the government was never against the demand for appointment to the Board through the Public Service Commission (PSC) -- an issue raised in the past.

He said that on July 19, 2016, the board at a meeting decided that appointments should be made through the PSC and only after the Governor gave his assent to the Kerala PSC (Additional Functions As Respects the Services Under the Waqf Board) Act, 2021 did the demands were made that it should not be done through the commission.

Even when the issue was discussed in the Assembly, no one was against appointments through PSC, he said and added that a Cabinet meeting of 2017 had decided that after regularising the existing temporary staff of the board, any remaining vacancies should be reported to the commission.

Asked whether the government would consider the formation of a special recruitment board for Wakf appointments instead of leaving it to the PSC, he said no such decision was taken as of now.

The issue had turned into a political controversy after some Muslim organisations raised concerns that non-Muslims would also get recruited to the Wakf Board if appointments were made through the PSC and had planned State-wide protests last year against the decision.