Safeguarding Wakf property is imperative
Whenever Sangh Parivar cries of injustice being meted out to Hindus, one of the main accusations it levels is that the funds for ‘hindu temples are being diverted to minorities’. At the same time it also forgets the fact that there is a department of Wakf in existence, and a Wakf minister to take care of that.There is also a board that possesses highest share of land for a minority community, up to almost four lakh acre.
After Railway and Defence, Wakf holds the highest amount of land in the country. About 54,000 acres of land is in the possession of Wakf board in the state. And this property was not given to the Wakf board to appease the minority community, but this share of has over 800 years of history.
The kings, zamindars and rich people without heirs have consistently donated this land for the benefit of muslims. More than 3 lakh Wakf properties have been registered in the country. But the main question that continues to haunt even after five decades is; why all the property worth thousands of crores has not been utilized for the betterment of Muslim community? Leaders do not want to find answers for this.
Though there is nearly four lakh acres of land under Wakf board, this is in the possession of random persons and organisations. Outlook magazine has described this irregularity as the biggest land scam of India. The muslim leaders or religious heads are not showing any interest in this matter of illegal encroachment of land as much as they would focus on two and half acres of land. The community has been kept in dark over this matter.
According to sources, many prominent Muslim leaders are hand in glove with perpetrators of this crime. If a serious investigation is taken up, many Muslim leaders’ names would be out in the open. Hence, this scam remains under wraps. On one hand there is encroachment, and on the other there is large scale cheating in the name of lease. The Windsor Manor case is the best instance to understand how this hoodwinking happens.
Can one guess the rent the hotel has been paying for 1.65 lakh sq ft land it stands on? A mere Rs 1500! The hotel took this land on lease from Wakf board in 1973 for a period of 30 years. Eventually it was extended to 90 years. And the rent that is paid for this since 1970 remains unchanged. It is Rs 1500 then, and even now. The case is in the court right now. Not only this, many such cases are in the court and continue to languish there. W
hen Yeddyurappa government was in power, it used the Wakf cases to safeguard itself of the corruption charges. A committee headed by Anwar Manippadi was set up to prepare a report on the Wakf property irregularities. This was set up with Congress as the target and only for political reasons. Anwar Manippadi too, prepared a report that could please the BJP. Whatever be the reasons, that a report was prepared on Wakf land deals itself is a matter of solace for the Muslims. But since this was used only for political purposes, it lost its value. If BJP was any interested in dealing with corruption, the party would have handed over the corruption charges to CBI. At least the Congress government that subsequently assumed power, could have done this. But none took the next step.
As per the Manippadi report, more than half of the 54,000 acres of land, evaluated at 2.5 lakh crore has been encroached. This is a fact known to almost everyone. The report had suggested a judicial enquiry into the matter.
The Wakf Property Task Force in 1998 had recommended the illegal properties should be taken back into possession and a transparent higher level committee be formed. The Congress government had the power to hand over this case or start fresh investigation on this to understand the gravity of this property mismanagement. But this report was not even referred to because many Congress leaders’ names had figured in the report of having been party to the irregularity. There are no chances of any fresh investigation now, and the reason is more than evident now.
Now Wakf property mismanagement has been referred to, again in the session. Minister Zameer said this has to be handed over to the CBI, and quickly withdrew his words. The Muslims do not expect much from the new coalition government. But if the government can help the Wakf board recover its property and spend the proceedings for the benefit of poor Muslims, they would be more than grateful to the government. Is this too much to expect?
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