Greater Kashmir: Srinagar: Saturday,
January 21, 2017.
Jammu and
Kashmir Wakf Board has come under severe criticism from people for failing to
upload information about its functioning and financial data on its website
despite the directive of the State Information Commission (SIC).
The State
Information Commission in its letter No.SIC/J/15/2009-II-50018 dated July 10,
2012 had directed J&K Wakf Board’s Vice-Chairman to comply with Section
4(1)(b) of J&K State RTI Act, 2009 for being public authority of J&K
Muslim Specified Wakfs and Specified Wakf Properties The State Information Commission had
shot the letter to the Wakf Board after it found that it had not discharged its
duties listed under Section 4 of the RTI Act up to July 2012.
The
provisions of Section 4 make it incumbent on all the public authorities to make
voluntary disclosure of information held by them in addition to information to
be disclosed on specified points mentioned under this Section.
“Newly
created Hindu Trusts and Welfare Organizations including Shri Mata Vaishno Devi
Shrine Board, Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, Pratap Sabha have set up Colleges,
Universities and Hospitals, ironically, the Wakf Board has miserably failed to
make any mark to establish such institutions,” said Mehjoor Dar, of Fateh
Kadal.
“Due to lack
of transparency and accountability, the Board has failed to make any
achievement for the upliftment of Muslims,” said Showkat Ahmad, a devotee at
Hazratbal.
“Muslim
community in J&K has enough reason to believe that Board has failed to
contribute impressively in any of the sectors be it health or education sector,”
he added.
“It is sorry
state of affairs that our Waqf Board is busy in misuse of funds. Many scams
regarding the Board have been highlighted by media, but no action was taken.
The Waqf is more interested in
recruitments than in doing any developmental work on ground. Because of the
appointment of kith and kin by authorities, Wakf is having surplus number of
employees,” alleged Muhammad Ramzan, a devotee at Syed Yaqoob (RA) Shrine
Sonwar.
The Wakf
properties are worth Rs 2000 crores. “Not to speak of helping the destitute and
establishing institutions for Muslims, the Wakf has failed to renovate the
shrines and Masjids that are in shambles for years together,” said a group of
devotees at Dastigeer Sahab (RA) Khanyar.
According to
sources, 60 percent of its revenue is spent on hefty salaries of employees,
bills and other charges while peanuts are left for any development work.
The records
state that the Board owns huge property including 1453 shops, 2160 Kanals of
orchard land, 99 Kanals of paddy land, 242 Kanals of maliyari land, 6840 Kanals
of forest land, 32 Kanals of marshy land and 63 Kanals of Eidgah.
On May 3,
2016, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti while chairing the 23rd meeting of the
Board of Directors of Wakf Board had sought its structural asking it to take a
cue from similar religious organizations which have created a huge social
sector infrastructure base by prudent use of assets and endowment money.
Peer Muhammad
Hussain, Vice Chairman Wakf said that annual audit report of 2013-2014 have been
uploaded on official website. “Other latest audit reports will be also uploaded
shortly,” he said.
“The annual
income through donations would be approximately Rs 13 to 14 crore. The
employees working in Wakf have been engaged from decades. Their number is
around one thousand. We cannot terminate them. However, the present policy is
not to make any fresh recruitment even not against the retirement of any
employee,” he said.
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