Supreme Court Restores Kerala Waqf Board’s Autonomy, Removes State Official’s Supervisory Role
The Supreme Court has removed a Kerala High Court direction that required the Kerala State Waqf Board to function under the supervision of a Joint Secretary/Additional Secretary of the State Government. Holding that such supervision was unnecessary in the circumstances, a Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice Vipul M. Pancholi restored the Board’s administrative autonomy while allowing other interim restrictions imposed by the High Court to continue.
The dispute arose from a batch of petitions challenging the constitution of the Kerala State Waqf Board on the ground that it allegedly did not comply with the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, which requires the inclusion of at least two non-Muslim members in every State Waqf Board. While hearing those petitions, the Kerala High Court had restrained the Board from taking major policy decisions, incurring capital expenditure or making significant administrative decisions. It had also directed that the Board’s functioning be supervised by a senior State Government official.
Hearing the Board’s appeal, the Supreme Court declined to interfere with the High Court’s interim restraint on major policy and financial decisions, observing that the issue relating to the Board’s constitution was still pending before the High Court. However, the Bench found no justification for retaining the direction placing the Board under the supervision of a government officer. The Court observed that once the Board had already been prohibited from taking major decisions, additional bureaucratic supervision served no meaningful purpose.
During the hearing, the Supreme Court also questioned why the Board should be prevented from carrying out its routine statutory functions merely because its composition was under judicial scrutiny. The Bench indicated that the challenge to the Board’s constitution should be decided expeditiously rather than allowing prolonged uncertainty to affect the functioning of the statutory body. Accordingly, it requested the Kerala High Court to hear and dispose of the pending petitions at the earliest.
The Supreme Court’s order restores the Kerala Waqf Board’s day-to-day administrative independence while leaving intact the restrictions on major policy decisions until the High Court decides the validity of its present constitution. The High Court will now proceed to determine whether the Board was constituted in accordance with the amended provisions of the Waqf law, a decision that could have significant implications for the governance of Waqf institutions in Kerala.
