By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter
Uttar Pradesh government led by Yogi Adityanath announced on Thursday to dissolve the Shia and Sunni Waqf boards of the state. The decision has been taken after the boards were running under serious allegation charges since past few months.
Minister of State for Waqf Mohsin Raza said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has approved to the dissolution of the boards. In a conversation with PTI he said, “The dissolution process has been initiated after reports of corruption were found against the Shia and Sunni waqf boards related to their properties.”
The government has recommended that all the waqf board shall be dissolved immediately and all accused officials shall be barred from entering into waqf offices pending investigations.
Earlier, the Waqf Council of India had enquired about the alleged role of Samajwadi party leader Azam Khan, the then minister for waqf and Wasim Rizvi, the chairman of the Shia Waqf board after a series of serious allegations were put against them.
While Azam Khan was in the office, he mismanaged waqf properties around the states, misused them and carried out corrupt deeds, according to the fact-finding committee which was constituted after Central Waqf Council (CWC) received various complaints from the state. The fact-finding committee was headed by Syed Ejaz Abbas Naqvi who is serving as in-charge of waqf boards of Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.
The report mentions how Azam Khan misused his position for grabbing properties under waqf board. He started Mulana Johar Ali Education Trust and used waqf properties to divert money to the same trust.