Telangana Wakf Board sits on a goldmine, ignores several assets

DECCAN CHRONICLE. | S A ISHAQUI

Published Jun 14, 2016, 2:00 am IST

Updated Jun 14, 2016, 7:37 am IST

Board has ignored several assets which it can use to raise revenues.

 A picture of the Haj House at Nampally, Hyderabad. The Wakf Board is sitting on several parcels of land which can be developed to earn revenue.

Hyderabad: Several prime properties in Hyderabad that would otherwise have fetched crores to the Telangana State Wakf Board, have been lying vacant for several decades. Though the Board had identified the properties long ago to generate additional income, no concrete steps have been taken so far.
Sources said that the Board has a yearly income of only Rs 5 crore though it has huge tracts of lands in various districts of the state and also prime properties in the capital city. This Rs 5 crore gets exhausted every year for paying salaries to staff and also for maintenance.
As per provisions of the Wakf Act, the Board has an obligation to protect Wakf properties and also maintain them. It also has a statutory obligation to take care of the welfare of destitute, orphans and widows of the Muslim community.
Sources said that currently the Board was giving pensions to a few widows by depending on grants-in-aid from the government every year. Elders of the community say that if the Board develops the properties it has, it will generate crores in revenues every year which in turn would enable it run old-age homes and orphanages, besides giving pensions to Muslim widows.
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A senior officer in the Board said that there was a provision in the Wakf Act to develop Wakf properties by inviting private players to fetch revenue for the Board.
The relevant provision in the Wakf Act states:  “In case the Board is satisfied that any Wakf property may be developed for the purposes of the Act, it may, after recording the reasons in writing, take up the development of such property through such agency and in such manner as the Board may determine and move a resolution containing a recommendation of development of such Wakf property, which shall be passed by a majority of two-thirds of the total membership of the Board."
Mr Altaf Hyder Rizvi, a former Wakf Board member, said that the Board had constructed a huge complex besides the Haj House long ago without taking a single rupee from the state government. He said that the complex was still lying idle.
When there was an elected committee in the Board before bifurcation of the state, it had decided to rent out the building, but the proposal is still pending with the government. Several other vacant lands of the Board also remain unused, he added.
Wakf proposals lie with state
The TS Wakf Board has identified 26 properties in the city and its surroundings to develop on Build-Operate-and-Transfer basis.
According to Mr Syed Omer Jaleel, special secretary of the minorities’ welfare department, the Board had sent a proposal to the state government for six properties that required immediate attention to generate more revenues for the Board.
He said that as per the Wakf Act, the state government’s approval is mandatory for giving Wakf properties to private parties for development. He said, “Though we had send the proposal long back, the government has been examining all the aspects to avoid unnecessary litigations. Recently we have orally reminded the government about the pending proposal.”

IB probes reason behind delay in Hyderabad HC bifurcation

DECCAN CHRONICLE.

Published Jun 7, 2016, 1:58 am IST

S A Ishaqui

The Hyderabad High Court had ruled that the high court of a particular state has to be located within its territorial jurisdiction.

 Hyderabad High Court

Hyderabad: The Intelligence Bureau has been inquiring into the delays in bifurcation of the common High Court between AP and Telangana states.
In the backdrop of T-advocates launching an agitation demanding bifurcation of the High Court and also against the provisional allocation of subordinate judicial officers between the two states, the IB has asked its local officers in Hyderabad to submit a report on the agitation and also on the reasons behind the delay in bifurcation of the High Court.
According to sources, the IB officers in the city have prepared a report informing their higher-ups in Delhi that as per the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 it is the AP government which has to provide either temporary or permanent accommodation for the establishment of the separate High Court in AP.
Though the Centre has already allocated funds for Raj Bhavan, Secretariat and High Court, the AP government has not allocated the accommodation for establishment of the High Court, the report mentions. This, the sources quote the report as saying, is the main stumbling block behind the bifurcation of the judiciary between the two states.
Once the AP government allocates accommodation, either temporary or permanent, for the High Court and residences for judicial officers, it is for the Supreme Court and the Centre to take steps for issuance of a notification by the President constituting the separate High Court.
IB sources revealed that intelligence wing officers in the city cited the Constitutional provisions and procedure contemplated under the Reorganisation Act for the constitution of the separate HC for AP, in their report.
The sources said that the IB officers also cited the circumstances led to court work being paralysed across the state, except in the common High Court, on Monday, due to the stir by subordinate judicial officers, judicial employees and T-advocates against the provisional allocation of subordinate judicial officers between AP and TS.
The IB officers reported to their higher-ups that the HC verdict, categorically ruling that the high court of a particular state has to be located within its territorial jurisdiction when the TS government come forward to provide temporary accommodation for a separate HC for AP in Hyderabad till the AP government provided suitable accommodation for the court in that state.