Wakf Board can meet sans SECUNDERABAD nod: Activists

Hyderabad: With Telangana State Wakf Board deferring the dates of its monthly meeting, anxiety grips activists on whether important decisions would be taken by the panel before the election process is completed. 

The officials on Monday wrote a letter to the State Election Commission seeking permission to hold the monthly meeting in view of implementation of Model Code of Conduct. It is believed that the next meeting will be held only once the Assembly elections are over. The last board meeting was held on September 5, and it was attended by panel members represented by public representatives, religious leaders, bureaucrats and other eminent members. Various issues were discussed in the meeting and many decisions were also taken. AIMIM President and Member of Parliament Asaduddin Owaisi, AIMIM Chairman Md Saleem and other panel members also attended.

According to sources, the next meeting, which was supposed to be held in October, was deferred by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TS Wakf Board Shahnawaz Qasim, even though the Election Code of Conduct does not have any effect on the functioning of the board. It is said that all the board members, Chairman and even staff are ready to conduct another meeting, but Qasim is not in favour of it. Acting under pressure, the official on Monday wrote a letter to the Election Commission seeking authorisation for conducting such a meeting under the existing provisions. Senior officials also brought to the notice of Qasim that the code does not affect the function of the Wakf Board. It is believed that Qasim doesn’t want to take any chances based to previous experiences. 

Meanwhile, Wakf activists remained critical about delaying the board meetings in view of the elections. They maintain that the board has no need to take any such permission from the Election Commission, as the panel does not come under its purview. “Now they wrote a letter to the Election Commission and by the time the reply arrives the elections would be over. The entire process at this juncture would only contribute to the delay,” said Syed Ifteqar Hussaini, general secretary at Association of Save Waqf Properties. He explained that the delay in conducting meeting would impact the functioning of the board.

At September’s meeting, the panel decided to fund 100 students from Telangana to study in University of Bhubaneswar. It was also decided to construct two Haj houses, one in Sangareddy and the other in Mahbubnagar. It also decided that 11 new committees of Wakf properties would be constituted, and three new caretakers would be appointed.