MUMBAI, 5 July 2007 — Following an uproar over the sale of prime Waqf property in the posh Malabar Hill locality of Mumbai, the Maharashtra government has declared the sale as illegal and ordered the Maharashtra Waqf Board to take possession of the property.
A Joint Parliamentary Committee on Waqf land had on June 26 criticized the Maharashtra government for the sale of Waqf land to industrialist Mukesh Ambani and Dilip Deshmukh, brother of chief minister of Maharashtra, in Aurangabad.
The 4,532 square meter plot of land was purchased in 2002 by Altolia Commercial Private Limited, a company owned by Ambani, which is constructing a 27-floor building called “Sheesh Mahal” that also includes six swimming pools and six badminton courts.
According to a statement released by Avinash Hazare, deputy secretary in the Revenue and Forest Department, construction of the building was illegal.
An inquiry into the sale of five other Waqf properties also found that sales had been made illegally. Under Section 52 of the Waqf law, the government has ordered the Waqf Board to take possession of land sold in Nanded, Beed and Aurangabad district.
At the same time Chairman of the state Waqf Board M. A. Aziz has also been asked to clarify his position regarding the case within 15 days. Aziz has also been told that if his explanations were found to be unsatisfactory, he would be dismissed from his post. However, yesterday, Aziz said that the sales had taken place before he became chairman.
The Malabar Hill Waqf property was donated by Maharaja Mahadeorao Shinde of Gwalior to Karimbhai Orphanage, which sold it to Ambani’s company in 2002 for 21 crore rupees. The prevailing market price is 55 crore rupees. Chairman of the State Waqf Board M. A. Aziz said that when he took over as chairman he evaluated the property, which was estimated to be worth over 38 crore rupees. When this was brought to the notice of Mukesh Ambani he readily paid the difference.
According to government sources, the order of returning the property back to its original owners has opened a Pandora’s box and that further cases of the illegal sale of Waqf properties will now be exposed. The involvement of some government officials, politicians, ministers, and Waqf Board officials cannot be ruled out in the illegal sale of Waqf properties, said the sources.
Anees Ahmed, Cabinet minister for Animal Husbandary, Fisheries and Waqf in the Maharashtra government, was upset when Arab News contacted him. Ahmed did not know if M. A. Aziz was chairman of the Waqf Board. “I have dismissed the Waqf Board. I am giving a live interview to a television channel and have no time to waste with you on the subject. Please do your homework well on the subject, speak to the secretary or the joint secretary, and then put the questions to me,” he said.
Before hanging up, he added, “I am least concerned about the Arab or foreign media. I am concerned about my state media. And I have no time to waste for you people.”
