The Assembly of Christian Trust Services (ACTS) has sought to join a Kerala High Court petition challenging the state government’s reconstitution of the Kerala Waqf Board, arguing that its participation is necessary to prevent conflicting decisions in related proceedings.
The public religious charitable trust, based in Thiruvananthapuram, filed an interlocutory application in a petition brought by former Waqf Board chairman K M Hamza and others. The petition challenges a government order dated October 16 that reconstituted the state board.
ACTS told the court that it had already filed a public interest litigation challenging the board’s reconstitution in February 2026. Its objection is that the board was reconstituted without including non-Muslim members, as required under the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025. The trust said that its petition remains pending before a division bench of the high court.
The latest application argues that ACTS should be made a party to the pending challenge because both proceedings concern the composition of the same statutory body. According to the application, allowing the matters to proceed separately could result in conflicting decisions and multiply litigation before the court.
The dispute places the composition of the Kerala Waqf Board at the centre of a wider legal and administrative question: how the state government must implement the membership requirements introduced by the amended legislation while reconstituting the board. The supplied report does not indicate that the high court has issued a ruling on ACTS’s request to be impleaded.
In its application, ACTS also stated that most non-Muslim MPs from the ruling parties and members of the bar council were unwilling to serve on the board. It consequently proposed the names of several non-Muslim MPs, including Suresh Gopi, K Radhakrishnan and K Francis George, along with certain non-Muslim members of the bar council, for consideration for the relevant positions.
The proposed names are part of ACTS’s submissions to the court and do not amount to an appointment. The state board’s final composition, and the legal status of the October 16 government order, remain subject to the proceedings before the Kerala High Court.
The court’s decision on whether to allow ACTS to join the pending petition will determine how the trust’s objections are heard alongside the challenge filed by Hamza and others. The earlier PIL filed by ACTS remains pending before the division bench, according to the report.
