‘Govt should take back encroached Wakf lands’

Hyderabad: Communist Party of India (CPI) state secretary K Narayana submitted a memorandum to Governor ESL Narasimhan in support of Shaik Mohammed Iqbal, Wakf special officer, who has suspended 14 Mutawallis. Describing Andhra Pradesh as one of the States with large number of Wakf lands, he noted that during the last three decades several precious lands worth crores of rupees were grabbed by anti-social elements.

He pointed out that as per the statistics, out of 1,61,000 acres of Wakf land in the State, nearly 80 per cent was already encroached. According to him, the Wakf special officer was able to counter this trend by suspending 14 Mutawallis, including 6 from Hyderabad. Narayana alleged that Akbar Nizamuddin, former Wakf Board member and Mutawalli of Dargah Shah Khamoosh, sold away nearly 685 acres of land at Khanajiguda (Alwal), Sultanpur (Saroornagar Mandal), Saber Gulshan and at other locations and made crores of rupees out of illegal collections.

When special officer of Wakf rightly suspended him, Akbar Nizamuddin involved a few other religious leaders to plant false stories against the officer. They also represented to the Chief Secretary for his removal and transfer of honest official, he stated. The CPI leader felt that the Wakf Board needed services of honest official. He also pointed out that there was a widespread support from Muslim intelligentsia to the manner in which the officer took up the task. He requested the governor to instruct Wakf authorities to hasten the process of taking back the properties and to take stern action against defaulters.