Jaipur, July 23: The Rajasthan government has been urged to sack the state Waqf Board chairman and initiate action against the Board”s CEO and the Jaipur District Collector for allegedly promoting encroachment on a piece of land used for religious purposes here.
The demand has been made by committee members of the Muslim-dominated Karbala Colony Welfare Society, who have approached the administration and police authorities, accusing Waqf Chairman Salawat Khan, CEO Abdul Sattar and Collector Kuldeep Ranka, of entering into a conspiracy and allowing encroachment of the land. The issue relates to Karbala land, donated by erstwhile ruler of Jaipur for burial of ”Tajiye” (paper and bamboo replicas of the tomb of Hazrat Imam Hussain) on the occasion of Muharram.
The land, by the virtue of law, is meant only for the burial of Tajiye and not for any other purpose.However, two unauthorised colonies have come up on the spot, which were later regularized by the Jaipur Development Authority, leaving little space for the burial of Tajie.The committee members have also alleged that Ranka granted permission to the Wafk Board to construct ”Wajukhana” (washroom) in the Karbala mosque.
The washrooms were proposed to get constructed at the place where Waqk Tribunal had stayed any construction in 2004, M Saeed and M Rafeeq, custodians of the land said.According to the Karbala management, Ranka granted the NOC to the Waqf without “verifying facts and conducting proper investigation”.When contacted, Ranka said, “Wafq board is the body which manages the land, we gave just NOC following Board�s letter. Now what they do is their outlook. We do not entertain any unauthorized person. Depending upon the legal state, separate permission for construction will have to be taken from local bodies”.The Board Chairman, said, “I do not want to discuss any legal status about the construction or whether it is right or wrong. What I say is that whatever is going on, it is justified from the religious point of view”.
——PTI