By Probir Pramanik, IANS
Mumbai : The controversy surrounding the south Mumbai plot purchased by Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani to build a swanky residence has taken a murky turn with Maharashtra state Wakf Board chief M.A. Aziz and state Wakf Minister Anees Ahmed trading charges over the issue.
Ambani, billed as the richest Indian, has been drawn into a legal tangle after the Maharashtra government on July 3 termed as illegal the 2002 deal for the plot on the upscale Altamount Road in Malabar Hills, where the trillionaire's glass and steel "mansion-in-the-air" is coming up.
Ambani-promoted Antilia Commercial Pvt. Ltd. had acquired the 4,532 sq m land from an orphanage trust for Rs.210 million – and the Maharashtra Wakf Board, the custodian of Muslim religious properties, had a claim on the property.
After the Currimbhoy Ebrahim Khoja orphanage (Trust) sold the property, the Wakf Board issued a show cause notice to Antilia in April 2004. Antilia had then filed a suit before a tribunal under the Wakf Act.
However, in March 2004, the Wakf Board considered the trust's request and ratified the deed. The board withdrew its notice and Antilia withdrew the suit before the tribunal that month.
But now the Maharashtra Revenue and Forest Department has termed the land deal as illegal and has issued a notice to the state Wakf board, asking it to take the land back.
The government has also questioned the role of Aziz and issued him a show cause notice, asking him to clarify his position on the deal within 15 days.
Aziz Monday added another twist to the controversy, when he revealed that the state government itself had issued a no objection certificate (NOC) for the deal.
He claimed that he was being "targeted" by Ahmed as the board had "refused" to give NOC for two plots that he had allegedly grabbed in Nagpur.
"In 1984, the state government had clarified that the plot (bought by Antilia) was not a Wakf property. In fact the decision to sell the Altamount Road land was endorsed by as many as eight departments, including the Urban Development, Urban Land Ceiling, Revenue and the Income Tax departments," Aziz told IANS Tuesday.
"Moreover, the government had cleared the deal before the board came into existence (in 2004) and before I took charge as chairperson," Aziz said.
He claimed that even the then ministers for Wakf, Sayed Ahmed and Nawab Malik, had not objected to the deal.
Meanwhile, the Wakf Board Tuesday issued notices regarding 13 more properties, asking their present owners to clear their stand on the alleged irregularities in the deal in the next seven days.
Denying the allegations against him, Ahmed said: "I will meet the chief minister to demand dissolution of the board and eviction of people who had taken over the Wakf land.
"I was one of the beneficiary of a Urban Land Ceiling (ULC) property along with some other ministers and MLAs. But I have returned the same after it became controversial," Ahmed admitted.
But Wakf Board insiders feel the matter lies elsewhere.
"Since a property of one of Anees Ahmed's relatives was not cleared by the Wakf Board as it belonged to the Wakf and could not be given to private parties, he came out with documents of 10 other properties which, according to him, were of similar nature, including a property of the chief minister's brother at Latur, but were cleared," said a board member without wanting to be named.
Ahmed, however, countered the claims and has demanded a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) probe in the "irregularities".
"This is the biggest fraud in the country. We will meet Union Minority Affairs Minister A.R. Antulay with our demand of seizing all the rights of the state Wakf Board till proper action is taken against the irregularities," Ahmed told IANS.
"I have also written to Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh to order a CID probe into irregularities of 25 properties by the board amounting to a staggering loss of Rs.5 billion."
Meanwhile, work on the Ambani skyscraper, which will house four floors of family quarters, guest apartments, a mini theatre, a helipad and six floors of parking space, is already at an advanced stage.