State assigns Waqf land as ‘patta’

The Hindu: Hyderabad: Sunday, 29 November 2015.

Collector issued order to convert a part of graveyard of Chunti Shah mosque to patta, RTI reveals.

While litigation on land is not uncommon, what does one do when the State government itself assigns a Waqf land as ‘patta’? That is the problem to which the managing committee of the Chunti Shah mosque woke up to last month, when it realised that a part of its graveyard was assigned to its tenants without it being any wiser.

According to documents obtained through a Right to Information (RTI) application, the order to ‘convert graveyard to poramboke land’ pertaining to the Chunti Shah mosque at Osmanpura, was issued on March 28 by the Hyderabad district Collector based on proposals by the Tehsildar of Charminar.

The matter has been taken up by the Deccan Wakf Property Protection Society (DWPPS), which also informed the Waqf Board about it.

According to the provisions of the Waqf Act (Section 51), properties belonging to the Waqf Board ‘cannot be alienated/sold/purchased/mortgaged and transferred, etc.’

“Part of the mosque’s graveyard was ‘converted’ and issued as ‘pattas’ to the tenants and other illegal occupants on the property. It is illegal, and about 19 such ‘pattas’ have been issued so far on that piece of land,” said Osman Bin Mahammed Al-Hajri, president of DWPPS, at a press conference on Saturday.

RTI documents obtained by the organisation clearly showed that the mosque’s property was surveyed by the Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO), Hyderabad division, before being ‘converted’. According to the Office of the Tahsildar, Charminar mandal, where the information was sought, the RDO had reported that out of 4,990 square metres of the mosque’s land, 1,372.50 sq. mt were occupied.

The RTI response, which included a document signed by the Hyderabad district Collector, states that the 1,372 sq. mt of land of the Chunti Shah mosque is to be changed from ‘graveyard to ‘poramboke land’, which was then assigned to those living on it. It also mentions that ‘applicants (who occupied the 1,372 sq. mt) have been in possession of the land with all amenities’.

“Those who have been issued ‘pattas’ are the tenants of the mosque land and who had stopped paying the nominal rent a few years ago. We even have the records to show the amount of rent they were paying,” said Mr. Hajri.

He further mentioned that the DWPPS has issued notices to the erring officials under Section 80 of the Revenue Act.

“They have to explain their actions within 90 days, after which we will go to court,” he added.