New turn to dargah row

The AP State Wakf Board had sacked Mr Faisal Ali Shah as mutawalli of Dargah Yousufain for alleged misappropriation of Rs 1.28 crore and also for earning Rs 10 lakh by selling land in the graveyard adjacent to the dargah.

Mr Faisal Ali Shah had challenged his termination before the High Court and his plea is pending. Meanwhile he had moved the Wakf Tribunal claiming that he was not only a mutawalli, but also rendering services of Sajjadanasheen (descendent) since August 13, 1986, of Sufi saints Hazrath Syed Shah Yousufuddin and Syed Shah Sharifuddin, who are buried at the dargah.

He claimed that as per Section 64 (2) of the Wakf Act, he alone was entitled to perform the functions of Sajjadanasheen in spite of his removal, and the temporary mutawalli who had been appointed by the Board was trying to take over the functions of the Sajjadanasheen.

Mr M. Laxman, additional chief judge and presiding officer of the tribunal, after perusing the case law and earlier orders of the Supreme Court and High Courts across the country in similar matters, held that the Sajjadanasheen was a spiritual teacher and the mutawalli was a secular officer.

The presiding officer said though the word “Sajjadanasheen” was not defined in the Wakf Act 1954, it was included in amended Act 1995, intending to harmonize the functions of Wakf institutions.

Maintaining that after the amendment, all disqualifications attached to the office of the mutawalli applied to other offices, the presiding officer said, "If the two parallel powers allowed to operate…there is every chance of disruption and anarchy in running the institution and performing rituals and ceremonies.”