AIMIM's Owaisi flags large-scale Waqf land encroachment in representation to CM

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi has submitted a representation to Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, drawing attention to the scale of encroachment on Waqf land and proposing a set of remedial measures.

Citing the first Waqf survey, Mr. Owaisi said it had identified 33,929 institutions holding 77,538.61 acres, of which 57,423.91 acres were reported to be under encroachment.

As a corrective step, he suggested that the Registration Department reconcile the Waqf Board's authenticated property schedules with Section 22-A(1)(c) of the Registration Act, 1908. The prohibited property list, he wrote, should be matched against revenue records and municipal planning records, and any deletion or alteration should follow a reasoned decision by the competent authority, notice to the Board and compliance with court orders.

He also pressed for the completion of the second Waqf survey, which was ordered in March 2001 and stated to have been submitted in 2014. That exercise reportedly identified 13,610 additional institutions covering 3,072 acres. Mr. Owaisi called for the full report to be obtained and the statutory notification process to be concluded.

Turning to land parcels in Raidurg reportedly belonging to the Islamic seminary Jamia Nizamia, he requested a pause on further auctions and conveyances by the State or the Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation. The disputed parcels fall in Survey No. 83/83-1, he noted, and the matter should be held until the claims have been examined and appropriate court directions obtained.

Mr. Owaisi pointed out that the institution's claim is stated as 510.35 acres, and that the certified deed and survey schedule must establish whether this figure denotes decimal acres or acres and guntas.

The Jamia Nizamia land issue had earlier grown into a controversy, with several individuals, organisations and members of political parties criticising the government's move to auction the land and expressing displeasure with the seminary, alleging that it had not been vocal enough on the matter.