Minister of state for minority development Dilip Kamble told the state assembly on Friday that the state would probe encroachments and creation of third-party rights on the over 93,000 acre wakf lands in Maharashtra.
The Maharashtra government has ordered a probe by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) into the encroachments on wakf lands spread out across the state.
Minister of state for minority development Dilip Kamble told the state assembly on Friday that the state would probe encroachments and creation of third-party rights on the over 93,000 acre wakf lands in Maharashtra.
He stressed that these lands should be used for the welfare of the community and for creation of facilities like madarsas and Haj Bhawans.
Earlier, AIMIM MLA Imtiaz Jaleel had raised the issue of misuse of wakf lands.
DNA had previously reported on Maharashtra government's suspension of former Waqf Board Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Naseeba Bano Patel after a preliminary inquiry found her guilty of ruling a waqf property worth Rs 2,500 crore in Nashik as a non-waqf one in early 2016. The 55-acre property, at a prime location in Nashik, now has a township coming up on it after the builder took possession of it by paying compensation to encroachers who became the legal heir of the land after the CEO declared the land non-waqf.
State government statistics suggest that Maharashtra has around 93,418 acre of wakf land spread over about 23,566 registered properties with the maximum in the Aurangabad division, which was part of the dominion of the Nizam of Hyderabad. However, a task force under the principal secretary (revenue) had pointed out that around 70% of these lands—most of which are prime properties—were under illegal occupation, encroached upon or transferred.
In 2015, the inquiry commission headed by ATAK Shaikh, a retired district and sessions judge, probing irregularities in management of wakf lands submitted its report, indicting officials and politicians for encroachments on these Muslim endowments and their illegal transfer, development and creation of third-party rights.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "DNA")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}