Nawab Najaf Ali Khan, grandson of the seventh Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, has contested the government’s claim of purchasing the 50 acre land in Mamidipally village in Saroornagar mandal from the Nizam in 1956.
The land in question was part of the several Wakf properties donated to the Dargah Hazrat Baba Sharfuddin in Pahadisharif by the last Nizam and that there was no way the government could have purchased it, he said.
Controversy erupted recently when the Wakf Board was served a notice by the Saroornagar Tahsildar asking why the 50 acre land allotted to it by government should not be taken back since the Board had not put it to use.
Originally the Dargah had 2,131 acres and 38 guntas of land which the government claims to have acquired from the Nizam after paying compensation.
In a statement here on Monday, Mr. Khan said the 2,132 acres and 38 guntas property was part of the 4,230 acres and 32 guntas mentioned in the ‘blue book’. Right from the times of the ‘Umore Mazhabi’ (ecclesiastical department) of the Nizam till date the property is listed as Wakf property. He quoted the Supreme Court judgement to say that “once a Wakf property is created it cannot be subsequently transferred or extinguished even by the maker of the will.”
‘Patta pahanies’ of the property existed in the name of the seventh Nizam. Even the gazette published by the government on February 9, 1989 showed the 2,132 acres and 38 guntas as Wakf, Mr. Khan pointed out.
Negligence blamed
He said the controversy had arisen due to the negligence of the Nizam Awqaf Committee headed by Mukarram Jah Bahadur. Mr. Khan wanted the committee to take appropriate steps to acquire the land and make concrete plans to improve the economic conditions of the community. “Schools, colleges, hospitals and small scale industries can be opened in the property in line with the vision of the Nizam,” he suggested.
