Hyderabad: In an unprecedented action officials of the revenue department late last night sealed the office of Telangana State Waqf Board.
The office of the Waqf Board Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, the record section and various other sections located on three floors of Haj House building were sealed during an operation from 10.30pm to 1.30am.
The team of revenue officials accompanied by heavy posse of policemen was led by Hyderabad District Collector Yogita Rana and the Revenue Divisional Officer R Chandrakala. The CEO of the Waqf Board Abdul Mannan Farooqui and former CEO Asadullah and other officials were also present on the occasion.
The main gate of Haj House was also closed during the sealing operation.
According to the sources the offices with the records of the Waqf properties spread all over the state were sealed on the orders of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
The move came after the chief minister walked out of a review meeting with the top officials of the minority welfare department on the performance of the Waqf Board. The chief minister had promised to make a statement in the state assembly. The chief minister lost his cool when the Waqf Board officials, including the CEO, failed to give satisfactory answers to his questions. He walked out of the meeting leaving the deputy chief minister and revenue minister Mahmood Ali and other officials shocked.
The meeting was convened a day after the MIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi had alleged in the state assembly that out of the 87,000 acres of Waqf land in the state, 57,000 acres were grabbed by the encroachers. Similarly he alleged that 56,000 acres of land belonging to the Hindu Endowments department was also grabbed.
He also demanded action for the proper protection of all the Waqf properties and alleged that many political leaders and higher officials were involved in the encroachments of these properties and demanded their return to the Waqf Board.
At the review meeting the chief minister asked the officials to submit the details of 1,654 acres of prime land in Hyderabad under the Hussain Sahah Wali Dargah on which projects like Lanco Hills and offices of various IT companies have come up. The state Waqf Board has staked its claim on the property and the state High Court had upheld its claim but the state government during YS Rajasekhar Reddy regime had challenged it in Supreme Court.
Chief Minister KCR also wanted to know the details of 1,700 acres of land under the Baba Sharfuddin Dargah a part on which the Shamshabad airport has come up. Chief Minister was angry over plundering of the Waqf properties and said that wherever he went in the state, representations were made to him about the encroachments of Waqf properties.
The action came after recent disclosures of serious and massive irregularities in the functioning of Waqf Board and arbitrary appointments of unqualified people on big salaries during the last few years. There were also allegations of massive encroachment and grabbing of Waqf properties and the lands by the influential people through manipulation of records.
On Wednesday the revenue officials have started verifying the records of the Waqf properties and prepare a report for necessary action for their protection.
It is first time in the history of the undivided Andhra Pradesh and Telangana that a government has taken such a drastic measure against its own Waqf Board. The Board is presently headed by a senior leader of ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti Mohammad Saleem and its members belong to different sects and schools of thoughts of the Muslim community.
Waqf Board chairman Mohammed Saleem welcomed the action of the state government. “For the last seven months I have been trying to bring reforms in the Board but I was not getting any cooperation from the staff,” he said.
