The State Government has constituted a 12-member task force headed by Additional Chief Secretary and Development Commissioner Kaushik Mukherji to conduct a comprehensive survey of lands belonging to the Wakf Board, thus literally nullifying the earlier report submitted by the former Chairman of the Karnataka State Minorities Commission (KSMC) Anwar Manippady.
Disclosing this to presspersons, Minister for Minority Welfare, Haj, Wakf and Urdu Academy Qamar-ul Islam said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had authorised him to convene meetings of four Regional Commissioners in June to expedite the survey which has been going on ever since the time of M. Veerappa Moily.
Principal Secretaries V. Umesh (Home), Latha Krishna Rao (Revenue), Phanindra (Law), B.H. Anil Kumar (Minority Welfare), Survey Settlement and Land Records Commissioner Ponnuraj and KSMC Secretary and all regional commissioners are the members of the Board. Wakf Board Chief Executive Officer has been appointed member-secretary.
After assuming office, Mr. Islam had said that the report of Mr. Manippady was “not legal.” Sources in his department on Tuesday said that under Section 3 of the KSMC the chairman, without the members, did not have powers to hold any inquiry, let alone give a report to the government alleging encroachment of Wakf lands.
Land compensation
Mr. Islam, who had resigned as member of the Wakf Board, said the ghad acquired thousands of acres of Wakf and Temple lands across the State in 1977 and onwards, but no compensation had been given to the Wakf institutions.
