The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday ordered issue of notice to the State government and others on a PIL petition seeking probe into alleged illegalities and misappropriation of wakf properties by certain individuals of the Karnataka State Board of Auqaf.
A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice S. Vishwajith Shetty, passed the order on the petition filed by Syed Sarwar Basha Makandar, mutawalli of Darga Hazrat Peer Syed R.A., Hanagal in Haveri district.
Though the petitioner has sought for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Bench said that such a prayer cannot be granted in the absence of registration of a First Information Report (FIR) while stating that the petitioner is at liberty to set criminal law into motion during the pendency of the petition.
The petitioner sought a direction for a court-monitored probe into misappropriation of a large number of wakf properties in the State and assistance of Karnataka State Legal Services Authority to offer free legal assistance to the poor mutawallis of wakf institutions to recover the properties.
