Wakf Board mulls business venture

It is planning to enter into a business venture with infrastructure company Deccan Infrastructure and Land Holdings Ltd to safeguard its 50 acre land in Mamidipally village of Saroornagar mandal on which the government has set eyes. DILL has expressed interest in taking the land which is close to the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport for setting up a warehouse for storing the cargo.

The Wakf Board is planning to enter into a business venture with infrastructure company Deccan Infrastructure and Land Holdings Ltd (DILL) to safeguard its 50 acre land in Mamidipally village of Saroornagar mandal on which the government has set eyes.

DILL has expressed interest in taking the land which is close to the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport for setting up a warehouse for storing the cargo. The Wakf Board thinks a partnership with DILL would be beneficial as it would protect the huge chunk of land and also yield good revenue.

The Board members too have given their consent. This follows the recent notice served by Saroornagar Tahsildar asking why the 50 acre land given by the government should not be taken back as it has not been put to any use.

Land in Koheda

The Board has similar commercial ideas for the other bit of 35 acres of land given by the government in 2012 at Koheda village in Hayathnagar mandal.

“With so many persons, including government, eyeing the land it is better to use it for some commercial purpose to boost the Board’s revenue,” says its member Syed Altaf Hyder Razvi.

Meanwhile, the Board has dashed off a strongly worded reply to the Deputy Collector, Saroornagar, to immediately withdraw the notice and refrain from “interfering in the affairs of the Wakf Board”.

What the government returned to the Wakf Board in favour of the Dargah Hazrath Baba Sharfuddin is the land utilised by it. “Therefore the question of resumption of the land does not arise. The Tahsildar has no jurisdiction, right or title over the land to issue such a notice,” claims Board chairman Syed Ghulam Afzal Biabani.

In its reply, the Board pointed out that the land measuring 2131 acre and 38 gunta situated in Survey No. 99/1 is a notified wakf published in the A.P Gazette No. 6-A dated February 9, 1989. “Since the government utilised 85 acres of wakf land, which was exempted from acquisition in 1956, the YSR government allotted 50 acres through GO 141 on February 10, 2009 and therefore it doesn’t amount to any grant,” Mr. Biabani said.

The Board sees the action of the Ranga Reddy district revenue authorities in issuing the notice without verifying the facts as ‘unfortunate and objectionable’.