MUMBAI, 12 August 2007 — In a move to end all illegal sale of Waqf lands in Maharashtra, district collectors and divisional commissioners have been ordered by State Revenue Minister Narayan Rane to check and verify all Waqf Board land deals. The review was ordered by the revenue department.
Rane, acting on complaints from his Cabinet colleague Anees Ahmed -- the minister for Animal Husbandry and Waqf, also directed the officials to restore the Waqf lands wherever possible.
Ahmed in his complaint to Rane had alleged that Waqf properties were being sold illegally despite an inquiry ordered by the government. The Qadri committee in its report submitted to the government had exposed the irregularities in the State Waqf Board land deals and had questioned the role of Congress legislator and State Waqf Board Chairman Dr. M.A. Aziz.
Ahmed had said that he had received complaints about the illegal deals of Waqf properties, claiming that such deals were still continuing. "I'm not going to rest till Waqf properties sold illegally are restored to the Waqf Board," he said.
State Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has started the process of constituting a judicial commission headed by a retired judge to probe all the properties of Waqf Board that have been sold illegally.
According to Ahmed over 200 properties across the state have been sold to private players at throwaway prices by the Waqf chairman, a charge Aziz has dismissed as baseless.
Aziz, dismissing allegations of irregularities in Waqf land deals, said that the charges were not related to him directly. In a reply to a show cause notice issued to him by the state government, Aziz said that the charges were baseless.
"Half of the charges leveled against me do not concern me directly and pertain to the administration and finance department," Aziz said in response to the charges against him by the S. J. Qadri committee, which probed fraud in Waqf land deals.
In another related development, Mukesh Ambani's Antilia Commercial Private Limited has been given two weeks to respond to the notice issued by the State Waqf Board seeking restoration of Waqf land on which the industrialist is building a 27-story mansion. Waqf Board Chief Executive Officer A.R. Shaikh said that Antilia had sought time to respond, and two weeks has been given to them, he said.
