Mumbai: The Maharashtra State Wakf Board has directed its Mumbai office to file a criminal case against the trust and four trustees of the Minara Masjid, one of the most important mosques in the city.
The Wakf Board, which has jurisdiction over Muslim religious trusts in the state, said in its order dated July 26 that the trustees violated two sections of the Maharashtra State Wakf Act 1995 by illegally transferring the tenancy of 83 properties, mostly tenements and shops in buildings owned by the trust.
Minara Masjid Trust Issues Statement
Abdul Wahab, trustee at Minara Masjid, said, "We have just received the order today evening so we have consulted our legal team regarding the same. As per our prima facie reading nowhere it suggests that it's an arrest order. But we cannot comment anything without consulting our legal team.."
However, the trust has been arguing that while they are a Muslim trust, they are not a Wakf trust. In their defence, they claimed that the trust is governed by the Bombay Public Trust, not the Wakf Act 1995.
This verdict was delivered in a case where allegations were made against the trustees that they illegally transferred 83 Wakf properties of the trust, violating sections 52 and 52 A of Wakf law. The two sections deal with irregular transfer of properties in Wakf-registered trusts without the Wakf Board's permission.
The mosque trust said they had challenged their inclusion in the Wakf list by filing a Public Interest Litigation in the Bombay High Court.
The Aurangabad-based Chief Executive Officer of the Wakf Board, Juned Sayyad, also ordered that the Mumbai office of the Board must seize and attach all the 83 properties and inform the Collector of Mumbai. Syed also directed the Mumbai Waqf officer to file an FIR against four trustees at the relevant police station.
The Wakf CEO said that his order must be implemented within 15 days of the day of the verdict The Minara Masjid Trust has the option to challenge the order in the Wakf Tribunal in Aurangabad.
The dispute over the law to be applied for the administration of Muslim trusts in Maharashtra is nearly three decades old. Before the Wakf law was introduced in 1995 for administering Muslim trusts created as religious endowments, all trusts were governed by the Bombay Public Trust Act of 1950 with the Charity Commissioner having the jurisdiction over the trusts.
The Minara Masjid Trust says it was registered under the Bombay Public Trust Act in 1952. The trust claims they were not consulted when the masjid was added to the Wakf list and that the listing was done when the courts were hearing the dispute. The matter was sub-judice and registering the trust as Wakf is an offence, the mosque trust has claimed.
Minara Masjid is not Wakf but an English trust established under common law and later replaced by the Bombay Public Trust Act, Minara Masjid has argued. There is a distinction between Muslim trusts and Wakf. Minara Masjid is a Muslim but not Wakf, the trust has said.
The dispute between the Wakf Board and religious trusts has been the subject of public debate in the city's Muslim community. "Some of the old trusts own properties worth hundreds of crores and over the years trustees have alienated properties without following the rules. Many properties are given to tenants under the padgi system where the property owner gets a share of the profits when the tenancy is sold. In most cases, there is no transparency in the deals," said journalist Saaed Hameed.
