Hyderabad: Emaar properties – a well-known Dubai company – is once again in news these days as the Telangana government is trying to reclaim the lands which were earlier allotted to it. It is likely that the state government may succeed in retrieving the lands and selling them to fill its coffer.
Many of the Waqf Board officials, Waqf activists, and public representatives may or may not know that land at Manikonda Jagir allotted to the Emaar is not government property. This land was endowed to Hazrat Hussain Shah Wali Dargah and hence it belongs to the state Waqf Board.
The total area of the Manikonda Jagir land is 1654 acres and 32 guntas and around half of the land has been given away or sold by the previous Telugu Desam Party or Congress governments to a number of multinational companies, national and social organizations for setting up IT and IT-related firms and businesses.
At the time of giving away the land, the government believed that the Revenue Department was the owner of the property. However, the AP State Waqf Board claimed in the High Court that the Manikonda Jagir property had been endowed to Hazrat Hussain Shah Wali some 150 years ago and the High Court had upheld their claim.
The state government had allotted a total of 535 acres of land to Emaar properties out of which 114.43 acre land still remained unused.
In the wake of a controversy with Emaar Properties, the state government is considering taking back the unused lands. The state government has formed a committee for this purpose which recommended setting up an IT park on 35 acres of this land.
But the actual owner of this land is the state Waqf Board and hence the government should hand over the land to the board as ruled by the state’s High Court earlier.
The present Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao had promised during the state formation campaign to reclaim this property and hand it over to the state Waqf Board.
Rao had again reiterated his promise during the first assembly elections. However, after coming to power his government is going back on its promise and contesting the case in the Supreme Court to claim this land.
Surprisingly, the Waqf Board is maintaining silence in this matter. The Muslims believe that the board chairman Mohammed Saleem should convene a meeting to pass a resolution for the land to be handed over to the board. A Muslim delegation should also meet KCR to demand handover of this land to the board.