Telangana Wakf CEO Abdul Mannan threatens to sue AP government official

Hyderabad: An alleged threat held out by TS Wakf Board chief executive officer Abdul Mannan to Mr S. Md Iqbal, special commissioner for minorities welfare of AP, created a commotion in the Haj House at Nampally here on Saturday. According to sources in the TS Wakf Board, Mr Iqbal visited the office in the afternoon along with the CEO of the AP Wakf Board to resolve issues with regard to distribution of funds.

The AP Wakf Board claims that its TS counterpart has yet to give it Rs 41 crore. The Telangana state government claims that the AP government has to pay Rs 100 crore to the Telangana State Minorities Finance Corporation. When Mr Iqbal was discussing the issue with Mr Mannan, he reportedly cautioned that the TS Wakf Board would be registering a criminal case against the AP official for utilising the interest on fixed deposits pertaining to the lands of Ishaque Mohiuddin Baba dargah at Visakhapatnam.

Sources said Mr Iqbal lost his cool, and the two officials got into an argument, creating a commotion at the Board office. Sensing trouble, Mr Mohammed Saleem, chairman of the TS Wakf Board, and other officers intervened and tendering an apology to Mr Iqbal. They said the CEO had no knowledge about the distribution of funds between the two boards.

The dispute arose over the funds that had to be shared between the Wakf Boards of the two states. While TS claims AP owes it '100 cr, the AP Wakf Board says the TS board is due Rs 41 crore.