Following the High Court directive to the Telangana State Waqf Board to digitise records within six weeks, the Muslim endowments body is grappling with the issue of locating documents of institutions.
While senior board officials maintained that gazette notifications are available, the problem is that they are not able to locate link papers, which are considered as title documents. These include the waqfnama (deed of waqf) and muntakhab (book of endowment).
Missing documents
Sources said that the unavailability of these documents has not augured well for the Telangana State Waqf Board. There are at least two judgements related to land parcels, which the board claims are endowed to waqf institutions, that have not come in the board’s favour in the past year.
Speaking on the issue to The Hindu , Telangana State Waqf Board member Syed Akbar Nizamuddin Hussaini said, “There are at least two cases the board has lost in the past one year. These include a land parcel of approximately 4.5 acres endowed to Masjid-e-Karodgiri in Karwan and another of similar size endowed to the Qutb Shahi Masjid in Attapur.
While documentation is available for other properties, it is very important to dig out waqfnamahs and muntakhabs of several other properties as they are title documents.” These ‘link’ or ‘title’ documents are the basis for the gazette notification, he explained.
Senior board officials like Chief Executive Officer M. A. Mannan Farooqui too admitted that link documents for some waqf institutions are unavailable. However, he and other officials remained tight-lipped about the two cases.
Thorough study needed
“It would be inappropriate for me to say anything about the Masjid-e-Karodgiri and the masjid in Attapur as these cases are sub-judice. We are working on the cases again and they are pending hearing,” he said.
While the board acknowledges the problem, it has little clarity on which properties do not have waqfnamahs and muntakhabs .
“To arrive at a figure, we need to take up a thorough study. This is a massive task. The board does not have adequate staff to do this,” a source said.
