HC orders status quo on Wakf Board appointments

: The Madras High Court has ordered status quo with respect to the appointment of candidates for 47 entry level posts in the Tamil Nadu Wakf Board on a petition alleging irregularities in the selection process.
Justice T Raja granted status quo until further orders and issued notice to Wakf board, returnable in two weeks.
The directive was given on a petition by A K Rafi Baig of Chennai, who alleged that though the Government Order was passed in 2014, the Board Chairman A Thamilmahan Hussain had not initiated any proceedings to fill the vacant posts till July 2015.
The selection process also lacked transparency as the applications were scrutinized in a hurried manner only in February this year, he alleged.

The petitioner submitted that the December 24, 2014 government order had directed the Board, a quasi government authority, to fill up the posts with the condition that the additional expenses for employment be borne by the board itself.
Baig further alleged that the Chairman had received huge sums of money through a Wakf board employee for appointing office assistants.
Hence, the petitioner prayed for a direction from the court to appoint a retired High Court Judge to conduct the selection process.
He sought an interim injunction restraining the Wakf board from issuing appointment orders to the selected candidates for all 47 entry level posts, pending disposal of the petition.