Hyderabad: On the one hand, Telangana State Wakf Board claims to protect wakf properties but on the other hand, the records show that the second survey report submitted long back has been shelved in cold storage since no action has been taken on it. In this survey report, 13349 wakf properties were identified which have 99, 66,739 acres of lands. It is the duty of the Wakf Board to get gazette notification issued about these properties but due to the lethargy of Wakf Board officials, this could not be done.
Authentic sources revealed that during the tenure of office of Mr. Jalaluddin Akbar, IFS, Special Officer, the work of second wakf survey was completed. Mr. Akbar was also holding additional charge of Survey Commissioner of Wakfs. The report was presented to Govt. The Dept. of Minorities Welfare sent this report to Wakf Board for its review where it was dumped in cold storage. Now that five months are over after the formation of Wakf Board, the present board did not bother to review this survey report.
It is reported that the services of the officials who identified wakf properties have been dispensed with and there is no expert official in the Wakf Board now to review this report.
It may be mentioned the former CEO of Wakf Board, Mr. Mohammed Asadullah had constituted a team of experts to review this report but after his transfer, this work remained incomplete. It is pointed out that in this survey report, there were differences in the maps and survey numbers which have to be rectified. It is the duty of the Wakf Board to remove these defects and send the report to the Govt. for issuing gazette notification. If there is any objection raised by the Govt., the same could be referred to Wakf Commissioner once again.
Before 2013, Wakf Board had the authority to take action for the publication of gazette notification but due to the present amendment in the wakf act. this authority rests with the Govt. Due to the negligence of Wakf Board, 13349 wakf properties could not be included in the wakf records.
It may be noted that the first survey of Wakf properties was started in 1962 which was completed in 1990 and gazette notifications were issued accordingly. In the first survey, 32157 wakf properties were identified which had 77,538 acres of wakf land. The interesting point is that out these wakf properties, 80% are in illegal possession.
Wakf Board has recently started a campaign for the enhancement of its income but it is not paying any attention to restore more than 13000 wakf properties.
–Siasat News