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No accountability in Maharashtra Wakf Board transactions

Special Correspondent

Special audit instituted to go into financial irregularities; show-cause notice issued to Chairman

MUMBAI: The land deals of the Maharashtra State Board for Wakfs and irregularities allegedly committed by its chairman M.A. Aziz have drawn attention to the complete lack of regulation and accountability in the transactions.

The issue has hogged the limelight, with one of the deals involving the sale of 4,532 square metres on Altamount Road to Antilia Commercial Private Limited, where Mukesh Ambani is building his office and residence. According to the S.J. Qadri Committee, which probed five land deals involving the board, the land was sold without the board’s permission.

Speaking to The Hindu from Aurangabad, the board’s chief executive officer, A.R. Sheikh, said Mr. Aziz’s claim that the deal involving Antilia was executed before the board was instituted in 2002 was untrue. The board wa s set up in January 2002 and advertisements for the sale of the property were published in July that year. The permission of the charity commissioner was taken in August and the sale took place in November.

Mr. Sheikh said the Wakf Act came into force in January 1996 and the powers of the charity commissioner over Wakf land automatically ceased to exist. So, even though the Reliance property deal was approved by the charity commissioner, it did not stand legal scrutiny. In 2003, the then Wakf Minister Sayyed Ahmed took cognisance of the sale at a meeting and ordered a stay. The Government asked the CEO to examine the sale and the charity commissioner to explain why he had approved the illegal transaction. The Government also asked the CEO to initiate proceedings under Section 52 of the Wakf Act to recover the property. Notices were served to Antilia Commercial and the Currimbhoy Ebrahim Khoja Orphanage, the trustees who owned the land.

However, no action was taken though the CEO passed an order that the property was Wakf land. The Government conducted a survey of Wakf land in 2001 and published a list in the gazette. The land sold to Antilia featured in the list of over 23,000 properties. If the trust felt it was not Wakf land, it could have appealed against the notification, Mr. Sheikh said. Under the Wakf Act, objections could be heard only by a special tribunal. However, this was not done and the matter was never challenged.

In another instance, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh’s brother Dilip, a Congress member of the Legislative Council, bought Wakf land in Aurangabad city, it was alleged. According to sources, Mr. Dilip Deshmukh bought 14 acres, notified as Wakf property in 1973 in the gazette. A notice under the Wakf Act was sent to him, saying the property could be reclaimed by the board. He did not reply and proceedings were pending against him. However, the Chief Minister and his brother have repeatedly said that the land was not Wakf property and that the matter was settled in court.

Things came to a head earlier this week, when Wakf Minister Anees Ahmed alleged that the Chief Minister and other Ministers were benefiting from Wakf land deals. In turn, the board chairman alleged that Mr. Ahmed had taken Wakf land for a trust run by him. Mr. Ahmed clarified that it was surplus land allotted to him and he had not accepted it in any case. He demanded the dissolution of the board, saying the land deals could run into crores. Even though the Qadri report demanded a CID probe into the deals and the entire functioning of the board since 2002, the Chief Minister said it would be instituted, if necessary.

However, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Prabha Rau admitted that the party’s image in the State suffered due to the controversies surrounding the land deals.

Thanks to pressure from the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Wakf, which visited the State, and the Qadri report, the Government issued three notices on July 3. It instituted a special audit into the Wakf Board’s financial irregularities to the tune of Rs.4.15 lakh during 2001-03 involving seven board officials. The board’s accounts had not been audited for the last three years. The Divisional Commissioner of Aurangabad would constitute a special audit team.

A show-cause notice was issued to the board chairman.

Another notice was sent to the CEO, asking him to initiate action under Section 52 of the Wakf Act to recover the property sold to five parties including Antilia. The rest of the properties are in Nanded, Beed and Aurangabad.

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