Software, infra, realty firms built on property alienated from dargah
Hyderabad High Court
Hyderabad: The Telangana Wakf Board is claiming Rs 32,000 crore compensation for the properties that were allotted to various corporates at Gachibowli and Manikonda areas of the city.
During the Telugu Desam and Congress regimes, the erstwhile AP government had allotted major chunks of land, out of 1,630 acre belonging to the Dargah Hazrat Hussain Shah Vali, to various private parties by way of allotment and auction. Wakf lands belonging to the Dargah located in Manikonda and Gachibowli were allotted to Emaar, Lanco Hills, Microsoft, Infosys, Wipro, VJIL, Polaris and other corporate companies.
The allotments were made despite an injunction from the Wakf Tribunal, which had later held that the land belonged to the Dargah. The Tribunal order was upheld by the Andhra Pradesh High Court in April 2012 while dismissing the civil revision petitions moved by Lanco Hills Technology Park Private Limited and others.
Later, the private companies and the state government had moved the Supreme Court, which had granted an interim stay. After consulting legal experts, the Board has decided that the lands would be worth more than Rs 32,000 crore and has decided to seek compensation as was done in the case of Wakf lands in Visakhapatnam.
When contacted, Mr Syed Omar Jaleel, secretary to the minority welfare department, said, “Recently the matter was brought to the notice of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. We informed the CM that the revenue department was fighting the Wakf Board with regard to the Hussain Shah Vali Dargah lands. The CM asked us to circulate the file to examine the matter.”
A senior officer in the state associated with the case recalled that the TRS, during its election campaign, had promised that it would withdraw the case against the Wakf Board in Supreme Court after it came to power. The officer said that once the government withdrew the case, it would pave way for the Board to get compensation either through negotiations or legal means.
( Source : dc )
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