The Supreme Court today stayed a Bombay High Court judgment dissolving the Maharashtra State Wakf Board, which administers all Muslim religious trusts in the state.
A bench headed by Justice Altamas Kabir issued notice to all those including Anjuman-e-Islam trust, which had challenged the constitution of the state board in the high court.
The high court had dissolved the board after holding it as "defective". actress Shabana Azmi was one of the members of the board.
The Maharashtra government and the Wakf Board challenged the September 21 verdict.
Solicitor General Rohinton Nariman and advocate Shivaji Jadhav mentioned the appeal before the bench which stayed the high court order and posted the next hearing on January 12, 2012.
The high court had held that the board was constituted without taking into consideration relevant data indicating the total number of Muslim religious charitable trusts and their categorisation among Shia and Sunni Wakfs.
Anjuman-e-Islam trust had contended that under the Wakf Act, the state government was required to undertake a survey of every Muslim religious trust and then take a decision if a composite board or separate board needs to be set up for Shias and Sunnis.
The trust had pointed out in the high court that the state had issued a notification constituting the Wakf board without waiting for the survey report. While the notification was issued on January 4, 2002, the survey report was submitted to the government only on January 31, 2002.
A total of 20,194 trusts are governed by the Wakf Board, Khan said.
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