Hyderabad: Telangana Waqf Board succeeded in salvaging prime endowment lands from state Minister G Kamlakar who has appeared in High Court challenging the stay on endowment property registration.
There is 55 acres and 24 gunthas of lands under survey Nos.122,126,129,154 and 171 which comes under “Khitabat”, “Inamland” and “Eid-gah” which has a proper ownership record as per the Waqf gazette issued on 11 January 1990.
It is learnt that the state Minister G Kamlakar had claimed 15 acres of these lands and in 2012 he had an order issued in his favour through RDO. The Joint Collector listed the Minister’s name as the owner of the land.
Meanwhile, the Waqf Board had sent records of its lands to all the district collectors and registration offices in keeping with the GO No.15 of the state government to bar the registration of the endowment properties.
Consequently, the registration authorities refused to register the 15 acres of land in question and listed it into the prohibited land category which cannot be registered.
Ironically, it’s none other than the State’s Minister for Backward Class G Kamlakar who has challenged this government decision in the High Court.
Due to the keen interest of the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Dharni portal was lauanched whereby many land reformations were implemented. The Minister, however, challenged the government’s decision to bar registration of the disputed land through a petition in HC terming the government’s decision as illegal and arbitrary. The Minister pleaded the Court to de-list the disputed land under Survey No.126 from the registration barred list.
The Minister named Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Karimnagar District Collector, Telangana Waqf Board and revenue officials as respondents in the case.
It is said that Telangana Waqf Board had staked its claim over the lands by submitting relevant documents. The Minister on the other hand claimed the disputed land as “Inamland” and sought ownership right certificate from the district authorities. His request was rejected by RDO but the Joint Collector issued an ORC in Kamlakar’s favour.
According to the government officials, the ownership stand of the Auqaf is strong and tenable. The state Minister said that the village’s 170 acres of land was under the ownership of small and medium farmers since 1953. However, as per the record of Auqaf Board these lands are the properties of Auqaf.
The case has been listed in the Bench of Justice P Navin Rao for hearing. The Chairman Waqf Board Mohammed Saleem said that proper representation shall be made in the Court and if need be the services of senior counsels shall be availed.