HC questions Telangana on Wakf Tribunal

The High Court at Hyderabad on Wednesday questioned the Telangana State government for not appointing the member (revenue) to the Wakf Tribunal as it had resulted in severe problems for the public seeking redressal of their grievances.

A division bench, comprising acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice A Shankar Narayana, posed this question while hearing a petition filed by the AP Wakf Bar Association seeking direction that the Wakf Tribunal at Hyderabad for the Andhra Pradesh state must continue to receive and dispose of the matters referable to the territory of Telangana State also till appointment of member (revenue) to Wakf Tribunal for Telangana state.

The counsel for petitioner, Md Ilyas, informed the bench that the present Wakf Tribunal had been functioning only for the State of Andhra Pradesh, whereas the Wakf tribunal for Telangana State had become defunct due to lack of proper infrastructure and non-posting of the member (revenue).

Due to this, petitioners approaching the tribunal had been put to great hardships as their grievances were not being redressed, he pointed out.

The bench questioned the Telangana government counsel as to why the State was not appointing the member to a forum dealing with public grievances.

As per the Supreme Court direction, all the States in the country should have filled the posts of the Wakf Tribunals within four months from December 2015.

The government pleader said that he would get instructions on the issue of appointing a member (revenue) to the Wakf Tribunal. The bench posted the matter to Monday for further hearing.