Wakf Board still in slumber as land sharks make a killing

Hyderabad: Despite the formation of a new Wakf Board four months ago in the State, the issues concerning the board are yet to resolve due to absence of regular meetings.

The last time the board formally met in September 2021 to discuss the Wakf issues and was presided by the then Chairman Mohammed Saleem.

Though a meeting of newly elected members was held recently, it was largely confined to introduction of members and conferment of powers to the newly elected chairman Masiullah Khan.

Syed Ifekhar Shareef, a community activist said, "Wakf Board is incurring heavy losses due to delay in completing legal proceedings of cases being pursued in courts. Several other issues to be discussed on priority note are also waiting for their disposal. The land grabbers, fake mutawallies and guttedars of shrines in the State are enjoying the situation taking advantage of the absence of regular meetings."

As per the procedure, meetings should be called every month to discuss the issues. The new board was formed in February 2022 but no formal meetings were called to discuss the issues concerning the board during the last four months except the one that was held on May 7 that saw only introduction of members and conferment of powers to new chairmen, added Syed.

Reminding that the newly elected Chairman Masuiullah Khan assured to bring transparency in the board's functioning. He urged that the newly elected board should call the meeting regularly to take up legal matters and discuss the issues besides clearing the pending files in the larger interest of the Wakf Board.

While finding fault with keeping the Chief Executive Officer (CEO's) posts vacant for several years, he said, this too became a trend in minority institutions.

"The post of CEO is still vacant in the Wakf Board since 2018 which was additionally conferred to the Director Minority Welfare Shahnawaz Khasim. Similar is the situation of Telangana State Haj Committee where the post of CEO was additionally conferred to the Secretary Telangana Minorities Residential Educational Institutions (TMREIS) for the heck of it," argued Iftekhar.