‘Wakf officials,ex-ministers behind illegal land dealings’

A source from the state Minorities Affairs Ministry said two former ministers,former CEOs and chairpersons of the Wakf Board and a few deputy collectors have been found to be involved in illegal land transactions that include exchange,lease and sale of Wakf land. The board owns more than 90,000 acres in the state.

The commission was appointed by former chief minister late Vilasrao Deshmukh in October 2007 under the chairmanship of Shaikh after increasing complaints that the management of Wakf land is plagued by corruption in land dealings. “Large tracts of land in Beed and Nanded among other places — measuring over 25 acres — were found to be illegally sold,leased or exchanged for land on the outskirts of towns,” said an official.

Even though the commission submitted its report in April 2011,the state government failed to take action and table the action-taken report in the legislature. An official said the government sat on the report because of its revelations,and authorities seem to have suddenly woken up to the issue now because of the recent incident of corruption exposed within the board.

Pathan was caught by the ACB in July for seeking and accepting a bribe installment of Rs 30,000 from a man who wanted the lease of a land allotted to him by the board to be extended from one to three years.

The commission was expected to inquire into the legal and illegal transfer and sale of properties and conduct a survey of the properties to identify the status and fix responsibility for irregularities. After the commission submitted its interim report on the former,the commission was denied further extension.

“The panel was supposed to carry out field survey to get clarity on total Wakf properties and identify encroachments and illegal constructions. But this exercise was never allowed,” said the official. Chavan has now ordered for computerisation of all Wakf properties,which is not possible without this survey.