After over a year, Maharashtra Waqf board to get a CEO

After over a year and a half, the state Waqf board may finally get a full-time chief executive officer (CEO). The board controls over 93,000 acres of prime land in Maharashtra.

Members of the Maharashtra State Board of Waqf (MSBW) have recommended two names for the post to the state government. Shyam Tagade, principal secretary, minority development department, confirmed the same and said that they are scrutinising.

The MSBW has no full-time CEO since July 2017. SC Tadvi, the department's joint secretary is the additional charge. The baord also lacks a full-time chairman and has only five of 12 members. Under the Waqf Act, 1995, the state government can appoint a CEO from a panel of two names suggested by the Board.

Hussain Dalwai, Congress Rajya Sabha MP and MSBW member, said the board, in its meeting held last month, had recommended the names of SEA Hashmi, additional CEO, Gondia Zilla Parishad and Sajid Pathan, deputy secretary in the medical education department.

"With no full-time CEO, routine works like registering new Waqf properties, completing change reports and encroachment removal have been affected," added Dalwai, saying that the board needed budgetary allocations from the state government. He said the Waqf land should be free from encumbrances as it is required to educate the underprivileged from the Muslim community.

After the CEO, Sayyed Aejaz Husain was transferred, Naseema Banu Patel was appointed with an additional charge on September 2015. In August 2016, the board recommended three names to the government, but the state said all three were not eligible or their services could not be made available. AR Qureshi was then appointed in January 2017. Board member Abdullah Khan (Babajani) Durrani approached the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court against the appointment.

In May 2017, the court ordered that the board may suggest names of two eligible officers and the state may appoint one of them as the CEO. Qureshi was to continue till a full-time CEO was transferred in July 2017, after which the board has had no full-time official in the post.

Patel, a revenue officer, was suspended by the state government in March 2017 for allegedly delisting Waqf land at Nashik during her tenure.

Dalwai said the board needed adequate staff. MSBW chairman, former Congress MLC MM Shaikh, who assumed office in August 2016, resigned in November 2017 after being confronted with a no-confidence motion by the members, but is holding the acting charge.

State government statistics suggest that Maharashtra has around 93,418 acres of Waqf land spread over about 23,566 registered properties, with most land parcels in to Aurangabad division, which was part of the dominion of the Nizam of Hyderabad. However, most of these lands are encroached, illegally occupied or transferred.

CEO TO BE FULL-TIMER, MUSLIM

• According to the Waqf Act, 1995, the board must have a full time CEO, who shall be a Muslim and appointed by the state government from a panel of two names suggested by the board. 
   
• The CEO shall not be below the rank of deputy secretary or an equal rank. In July 2013, the state government through the Maharashtra Waqf (Amendment) Rules, 2013, said a judicial officer of equivalent cadre or an additional collector could also be appointed.