Hyderabad: Activists flag concern over sealing of State Wakf Board record room

Hyderabad: Five years have passed by since the record room of Telangana State Wakf Board has been sealed by the State government. Wakf activists are concerned as it was sealed for its safety or a conspiracy to wipe out the documents which were wrapped in cloth since November 2017.

The record room was sealed at midnight hours and there is no access to the room to anyone but only to the Revenue department officials. Not even Wakf Board's staff are given access to the record room.

According to the Wakf activists, as the land records remained inaccessible to the Wakf Board, it kept losing legal cases of encroachment of its lands as it was unable to produce relevant records for proving their claim over a disputed land. "The records are wrapped in cloth for the past five years and since it was sealed no cleaning or antifungal operations have taken place, which may cause immense damage to the property papers.

Most of these records are more than 100-years-old and if they are left without treatment these records are likely to be destroyed by termite insects," said Mohammed Asif Hussain Sohail, an activist. Moreover, the geo-tagging or GIS/GPS mapping of wakf properties is pending in Telangana State and the digitalisation is also incomplete.

The digitalization of all the State Wakf Boards has been completed and GIS/GPS mapping of more than 95 percent of Wakf properties has been completed, whereas in Telangana state, no mapping has been done. "Let alone the much-hyped claims of 'digitization', the existing documents remained inaccessible even for official purposes. The encroachers are having a freehand, as no counter claim is being filed by the Wakf Board due to lack of documents and access to the record room," he added.

According to the Wakf Board, earlier whenever there was a complaint the record was checked to stop the manipulation of the property papers. But now as the record room is sealed, the checking facility is not available which is leading to misappropriation of the wakf properties.