Hyderabad: Telangana High Court on Monday came down heavily on State wakf board CEO Mohammed Qasim for his alleged high handedness and inefficiency . The court had asked the Government to get rid of this CEO immediately.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice Vijay Sen Reddy expressed their anguish over the attitude of CEO wakf board in failing to protect the wakf properties.
The court said that he never read any of the provisions of criminal procedure code with whose aid he can endeavour to protect wakf properties even when police refuse to register FIR against encroachers of the Wakf properties.
“He is hand in glove with the encroachers, let him go home, the bench observed.
The CEO was before the court as per last week’s direction of the court and none of his replies satisfied the court.
All that he stated before the court in reply to a series of queries from the bench on his failure to protect the wakf properties is that most of the station house officers were refusing to register FIRs on his complaints on the ground that they are civil disputes and hence police cannot interfere.
The bench went through his report which revealed that as many as 86 Muslim graveyards in Hyderabad were encroached and that the board could get FIRs registered in only 5 cases.
The court asked the CEO to read the CrPC, it tells you to first approach the SP of the district if the SHO refuses to register the case. You can also approach the jurisdictional judicial magistrate and lodge a complaint with him. He can direct the police to register the FIR. In how many cases did you do this?, the bench asked. The CEO replied that he was not aware of this. Nor did he read CrPC.
The wakf board counsel Mirza Saifulla Baig informed court that, there was not a single instance in the state so far where the wakf board had invoked the jurisdiction of the judicial magistrates.
The Chief Justice expressed his anguish and asked the Government to relieve him of the post. The CEO has failed to protect many of the properties. The state must take serious view of the dereliction of duties by Mohammed Qasim.
The court while directing the state to order an inquiry into the encroachment of Muslim grave yards in GHMC area.The bench directed the principal secretary of minorities welfare to file an affidavit by Dec 17 explaining hte steps he is taking to restore the lost properties.