Karwan: High Court moved against masjid panel tenure extension

Karwan: Challenging the extension of tenure of existing managing committee of Qutub Shahi-era Toli Masjid with an attached property of more than 27 acres worth hundreds of crores, the Wakf activists knocked on the doors of High Court by filing a writ petition against State Government, TS Wakf Board on Tuesday.

The petitioner, Osman Bin Mohammed Al-Hajri, who is a Congress leader and president of Deccan Wakf Properties Protection Society, alleged that some more land of the Toli Masjid was illegally occupied by the encroachers recently, owing to the negligence of the managing committee and the TS Wakf Board, which failed to take any action in time.

Emphasising that the committee failed not only to protect the Wakf property, and but also did not even file any suit or writ against the encroachers till now, he feared that on the recommendation of Hyderabad MP and local MLA, the Wakf Board was going to renew the present managing committee in the next Board meeting.

"The extension of present managing committee is absolutely illegal and against the law and arbitrary and against the AP Wakf Managing Committee (Constitutions, Functions and Duties) Regulations, 2009. As per the court's judgment the tenure of a committee cannot be extended on the basis of recommendation of a political person, as they are not competent to do so. In case of a dispute over managing the affairs, it is just and necessary for the Wakf Board to take the entire land in its direct management instead of handover the same to private parties," he argued.

Speaking to The Hans India, Osman said that even the existing committee was already facing charges and even Archeological department also filed a case against it in 2017. "Out of the 27 acre 20 guntas of land almost everything has gone to the encroachers, whose total worth could be somewhere around Rs 600 crores. The existing committee with the political patronage has continued for almost two decades," he added.

Association of Save Waqf Properties, general secretary, Syed Ifteqar Hussaini who is also supporting this, held that most of the encroachments took place during the managing committee under question. "How can the Wakf Board hand over the tenure to the committee which is facing charges and under whose tenure almost all the land under Toli Masjid is encroached upon?" he pointed out.