The Delhi Waqf Board (DWB) has moved the High Court against the Centre’s decision to take over 123 Waqf properties.
DWB chairman Amanatullah Khan on Monday said the Congress was responsible for the dispute.
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Meanwhile, Alok Kumar, the central working president of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), claimed that the Delhi unit of the organisation had “saved” 123 prime properties situated at strategic locations in the national Capital.
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“It’s our pleasure to say that after a legal battle of 40 years, we have saved 123 such properties valued at around `20,000 crore from the illegal occupation of the DWB,” he said.
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Giving details he said that in 1910 the Government of India acquired vast properties in Delhi for the new Capital of India. The acquisition was completed and the properties vested in the Government.
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On his part, the DWB chairman asserted that the 123 properties had been with the Board for long. Khan alleged that the Centre was bypassing the law and courts to “occupy them forcibly”.
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The Land and Development Office (L&DO) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (HUA) recently decided to take over 123 properties of the DWB, including mosques, dargahs and graveyards, based on the report of a two-member committee.
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Khan said the panel’s report was not shared with the Board, and added that a case challenging its formation was already pending in the Delhi High Court.
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“It reflects how the Centre is acting these days. We will not allow them to occupy Waqf Board properties. We have approached the High Court challenging the L&DO notice and a hearing is likely in two-three days,” Khan said at a Press conference.
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The Deputy L&DO in a letter to Khan on February 8 had informed the DWB about the decision to absolve it from all matters related to the 123 properties based on the two member committee report. Khan accused the Congress for the entire “dispute”.
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“The Congress Government in the 1980s notified all these 123 properties for lease to the DWB at a rate of one rupee per acre. This was challenged by the Indraprasth VHP in court and the move was stayed,” Khan said.
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All these properties, 90 per cent of which are mosques, should ideally have been handed over to the Waqf Board, he said. Again, before the Lok Sabha polls in 2014, the Congress-led UPA Government de-notified these 123 properties. The VHP again approached the court and the HUA was directed by it to decide the matter, he said.
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He asserted that the 123 properties including mosques, dargahs and graveyards were being used by the Muslim community and they would not be allowed to be occupied by the Centre. He also rejected the two-member committee’s claim that the DWB did not present its view regarding them.
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A case was filed in the High Court challenging the formation of the two-member committee and it was also informed about the same with a request to hold its proceedings, Khan added.
Source: Daily Pioneer
