Hyderabad: Staff shortage one of many board problems
Of the 92 cases filed against the board in 2010, the High Court disposed of 60 almost in the same year.
Hyderabad: The absence of an effective legal mechanism in the Telangana Wakf Board has resulted in the Board losing several cases and also for the pendency of ligation.
Mr M.A. Mukheed, former standing counsel for the board, said that generally the High Court was quick in disposing of petitions pertaining to disputes on mutawalli issues that were not complicated.
He said that matters relating to eviction of encroachers from Wakf properties and cases arising after notifying the properties, are pending for decades due to improper response from board officials the despite many reminders from the court.
The claim of the former standing counsel is evident from the disposal of cases by the High Court with regard to other matters not relating to encroachments in the year 2010.
Of the 92 cases filed against the board in 2010, the High Court disposed of 60 almost in the same year. Another 32 were pending as they involved landed properties that the board had taken directly under its management.
He said the board shows no interest in reviewing reasons for pendency of cases and does not respond properly when the court asks for counter-affidavits. This results in cases going against it.
Sources in the board revealed that a cell constituted to take care of wakf properties and legal matters has only a skeleton staff. Despite hundreds of petitions, there are only three standing counsel who are paid a meagre Rs 4000 per case with '2000 advance and rest when the case is completed.
Mr Mohammed Asadullah, CEO of the Telangana Wakf Board, admitted that many cases are pending before the High Court and that the legal cell is ill-equipped. The board needed “people having legal knowledge.”
He said the board recently purchased a software that will enable it to speedily follow up the number of cases in the High Court, lower courts and the Wakf Tribunal while verifying their status, determining when counter-affidavits are to be filed and other details. The board can then hold periodical reviews of the pending cases and take steps for their speedy disposal.