MiM Leader Akbaruddin Owaisi Gives Proof Of Encroached Wakf Land

Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen Leader Akbaruddin Owaisi

MiM Leader Akbaruddin Owaisi gives proof of encroached wakf land 21 Nov, 2006

HYDERABAD: The revenue officials were left in a spot on Monday when Majlis ittehadul Muslimeen Floor Leader Akbaruddin Owaisi produced documentary evidence claiming Wakf Board's ownership over thousands of acres of land. Earlier the officials had shrugged off claims of the House Committee on Minorities Affairs that over 5,000 acres of land under the Andhra Pradesh State Wakf Board in Ranga Reddy district had been encroached upon by government agencies. At a review meeting at the Assembly, MIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi produced revenue records of all the encroached land, claiming that the property belongs to the Wakf Board. It even stunned officials when Owaisi fished out documents claiming that the land on which Indian School of Business, Microsoft and Moulana Azad National Urdu University (Manuu) stand were all Wakf property. Ranga Reddy collector L Premchandra Reddy had no option but to admit the revelations of the House Committee. Premchandra Reddy assured the committee that the district administration would study all the documents and come out with a comprehensive report along with an action plan for the Wakf Board to reclaim its land. Owaisi produced revenue records of over 2,716 acres of land along with the pahani records. House Committee chairman Syed Mohammed Ahmedullah asked the collector to remove encroachments over the Wakf land and re-establish the ownership of the Board. He wanted the revenue department to confirm details about the land of the ISB and Microsoft at Gachibowli and take measures to return it to the Wakf Board. "The ISB, Microsoft and Manuu may be given the allocated land on lease or may pay an appropriate rent to the Wakf Board," Owaisi demanded. The district collector sought two months' time from the House Committee for completing the verification process.This is the response of earlier visits by the Assembly Committee to more than 1,500 acres of wakf land and 510 acres belonging to Islamic Institution Jamia Nizamia which have been encroached upon under Serilingampally municipality by none other than government agencies.This came to light during a fact-finding drive launched by the Assembly House Committee for Minorities led by Akbaruddin Owaisi (Majlis ittehadul Muslimeen ) and Kadapa MLA (Congress) Ahmedullah onThursday. The entire wakf land comes under Dargah Shah Wali locatedin Raidurg village of Ranga Reddy district. The team comprising MLAs Ahmedullah, Akbaruddin Owaisi, Sheik Subhani, Ranga Reddy district collector L Premchandra Reddy, Wakf Board special officer-incharge Sheik Madar and Jamia Nizamia rector Moulana Mufti Khaleel Ahmed verified the revenue and wakf records which revealed that the land worth thousands of crores of rupees belonged to Wakf Board. As per the wakf records, there is a total of 1,654 acres that belongs to Dargah Shah Wali. Of the total dargah land, 250 acres has been allotted to Indian School of Business, 1,022 acres has been given away to Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation(APIIC), 200 acres to Moulana Azad National Urdu University (Manuu)and 29 acres has been left with Hyderabad Urban Development Authority(Huda). Only 150 acres of land is left with the dargah but someportion of the remaining land is encroached by individuals andstructures have come up on good amount of land. A review meeting will be held on November 20 where a policy decision would be taken to safeguard the available wakf land and retain the ownership over the encroached properties, he said. Akbaruddin Owaisi (MiM) demanded that government should not delay in getting the wakf land back. Even when court judgments on most of the land came in favour of the Wakf Board, neither the Wakf Board northe government made any efforts to take control over the properties,he said. Owaisi demanded that all the institutions that have encroached wakf land be brought under "lease-deed" and Muslim students be givena 10 per cent reservation in ISB and jobs in other institutions like APIIC.The House Committee visited several sites in Ranga Reddy district on Wednesday where it detected that hundreds of acres of wakf land has been allotted to various agencies, projects including IMG and forthe upcoming international airport at Shamshabad. The committee found that more than 900 acres of land in Shamshabad was being used for the new airport, 87 acres allotted to Apparel park, 420 acres to IMG, 340 acres for maternity hospital and 230 acres encroached upon by tribals.