Maharashtra's Wakf Minister Anees Ahmed and state Wakf Board Chairman MA Aziz are on a warpath, with each alleging irregularities by the other in Wakf land transactions.
MUMBAI: Maharashtra's Wakf Minister Anees Ahmed and state Wakf Board Chairman MA Aziz are on a warpath, with each alleging irregularities by the other in Wakf land transactions.
While Ahmed sought dissolving of the Board and a CID probe into its functioning, Aziz said the Minister should be sacked for 'trying to usurp Wakf land in Nagpur'.
Wakf land in Marathwada, worth Rs 500 crore, has been illegally handed over by the Board, under chairmanship of Aziz, to various organisations, the Minister said.
Ahmed's comments came immediately after Aziz, at a press conference held at Mantralaya, sought the Minister's dismissal from the Vilasrao Deshmukh-led government 'for fraudulent practices while trying to usurp wakf land in Nagpur.'
"Ahmed should be sacked. I fail to understand why Deshmukh is shielding him," Aziz, who also hails from Deshmukh's Marathwada region, said.
"People say the Chief Minister is protecting me but I think he is shielding Ahmed," Aziz said.
The minister said 13 notices have been sent to concerned parties over the 'illegal transfer of wakf land'.
Asked about allegations that Nirman Bharati, a company linked to Chief Minister's brother Dilip, had been allotted wakf land at Aurangabad, Aziz said 'when we sent the company a notice, we were told that five different forums, including the apex court, had declared that the land did not belong to wakf.'
Asked if he was being used as a pawn in a bigger political game between senior leaders, Aziz said 'there is definitely politics in the attack launched against me'.
"The Antilia deal, of a Mukesh Ambani-led company, was cleared before I became the Board chairman," Aziz said in reply to a query.
Aziz alleged that Board Chief Executive Officer AR Shaikh was close to Anees Ahmed and had committed several irregularities. Shaikh had been caught by police for using yellow dome light on his car when he was not entitled to the same, Aziz said.
"The minister is vindictive toward me because I refused to give a no-objection certificate for a Rs nine crore loan proposal to an educational institute at Nagpur whose secretary is the minister's wife," he said.
The institute is on the Badi Masjid land, Aziz said.
Ahmed later said the Wakf land in the state was 'caught up in illegal transactions and as such, should be taken over by the Central Government. The Centre should also scrap the Board," he said.
"I am meeting minorities affairs minister AR Antulay within a few days to discuss the issue," Ahmed said.
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