By TwoCircles.net staff reporter,
Mumbai: Maharashtra Wakf Board CEO A.R. Shaikh, who had filed a Special Leave Petition (SPL) in the Supreme Court against the construction of Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani’s building on a former Wakf property, has been transferred.
Shaikh’s transfer order was issued on 3rd May, a day after the Apex Court rejected the SPL and gave its nod to the construction. Though Shaikh did not relate his transfer to the case, the timing of the transfer has led to speculation that he had been punished for being too active in proceeding against Ambani.
Shaikh joined the Board on November 3, 2006 as its CEO on deputation from Vidarbha’s Rural Development Department. Normally, a deputation is for three years but in his case it lasted for one and a half years.
Ambani’s firm Antilia Commercial Private Limited had acquired 4,532 sq metres of land at Altamount Road in south Mumbai six years ago from Currimbhoy Ebrahim Khoja Orphanage in a public auction for over Rs 21 crore. The Board told the court that the plot was sold on the condition that an orphanage would be constructed there. The Board had requested the court to order restoration of the property to it as it was being used for commercial purposes.
Ambani’s 27-story building will be one of the costliest buildings on the planet. Ambani is among the five richest persons on earth.