By TwoCircles.net staff reporter,
New Delhi: It seems very easy for one to illegally occupy the lands of Delhi Wakf Board. Perhaps, this is the reason that from land mafias to government agencies everyone has occupied wakf lands and the number of land usurpers is increasing.
The irony is that when the Wakf Board files a suit against them, the Board finds itself at the receiving end and lacs of rupees spent by it in legal proceedings go in vain.
As a result, one finds that in spite of owning properties worth crores of rupees, Delhi Wakf Board is in run down condition and unable to play true role of a controlling authority.
According to the sources in the Wakf Board, among all the government agencies, Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has occupied most of its lands.
Dargah Ala’uddin Multaj (Sheikh Sarai, Malviya Nagar), Masjid Qabristan (Motia Khan, Pahar Ganj), Khwaja Baqi Billah Qabristan (Qutab Road) are some of its prime land sites which DDA has been occupying illegally since last thirty years, causing the loss of worth lakhs of rupees in income of the Board beside the expenses of legal pursuit.
In 1994, DDA occupied Dargah Ala’uddin Multaj in Sheikh Sarai measuring around 9 beegha that is registered with the Delhi Wakf Board in 1870 gazette and handed over it to Residential Welfare Society Association (RWSA) after constructing plots on it.
DDA built a park and a temple on the remaining land of the Wakf Board and the land around Dargah has been occupied by other people at the behest of DDA for which it is receiving regular rent. Wakf Board filed a case against DDA and won the case but RWSA appealed against the verdict.
Similar is the case of Masjid Qabristan Motia Khan in Pahar Ganj. This plot spreads over 378 sqr yards that was gazetted in the name of Delhi Wakf Board on December 31, 1970. People have constructed houses on this plot. According to Wakf Board, it was found in a survey that some of them are paying rent to the Board whereas others are still paying rent to DDA.
Some people have constructed houses in Khwaja Baqi Billah Qabristan for which DDA is receiving rent whereas the land belongs to Delhi Wakf Board.
There are numerous other Wakf Board properties in Delhi that have been illegally occupied by DDA and other government agencies.
Delhi Wakf Board says it cannot act on a big scale since it is a small institution and this is the reason that big government departments and agencies are usurping its lands.
Meanwhile, Anjuman-e-Khuddam-e-Ilahi, a social organization, has filed a case against the occupiers of some of these lands. People say that if Muslim leadership interferes in these cases and the issue is raised in the Parliament, illegal occupations can be abolished.
Link:
http://www.delhiwakfboard.org/