Wakf Board Vs Municipal Corporation Jalandhar

waqf board Administrator M.F. Farooqui, who is also an officer of the rank of ADGP, Punjab Police, under the supervision of the Jalandhar District Sports Officer’s office and an attempt was made to grab a Kanal 14 marla land adjacent to the Table Tennis Hall, which was allotted to Jalandhar Municipal Corporation. Corporation Commissioner Abhijeet Kaplish has not allowed it to be successful yet.
The Administrator of the Punjab Waqf Board, A.D.G.P. M.F. Farooqui says that this land belongs to the Waqf Board which was being encroached by four walls, while according to Jalandhar Municipal Corporation Abhijeet Kaplish, this land belongs to the corporation which the Waqf Board was trying to encroach, which has been stopped.
The residents of Jalandhar have seen this disputed land as corporation land for more than 6 decades. Along with Badminton Stadium and Table Tennis Stadium, there is also the office of the Sports Department on this land, and near both the stadiums, the papers related to the lease given by the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation are also there.
Opposing the step taken by Waqf Board Administrator Farooqui, Corporation Commissioner Kaplish says that how can he allow Waqf to occupy his land only on verbal orders. If the waqf has any court order or land related papers, then it should claim it in writing.
This is not the first case of bullying by the Waqf Board. The Waqf Board is also claiming its own shops or agricultural lands built over the years in various cities and villages of the country and this is the reason why disputes are increasing. In fact, at the time of Narasimha Rao’s government, the Waqf Board was given the right to claim what it considered to be its land. The person who is in possession of the land or shop has to prove that it is his land. Instead of going to the judiciary, the appeal of this dispute has to be done only with the officers of the Waqf Board, in which all the members are Muslims.
It is clear from the above facts that the Waqf Board law enacted by the Narasimha Rao government of Congress is one sided. On this, the Supreme Court of the country had ordered that the Waqf Board can claim only that land, related to which it has strong evidence and documents, such as a land donated to it by someone in the past or a will made to it, etc. .
The stand of the Corporation Commissioner is absolutely correct and the steps taken by him are also correct. The step taken by the Waqf Board Administrator Farooqui can spoil the atmosphere of Jalandhar city. Therefore, the district administration and the Punjab government have to take immediate steps to end this dispute.

The Central Government should bring a law in the ongoing Parliament session itself to end the illegal rights given to the Waqf Board, the delay in this will prove fatal for the country.
Significantly, when at the time of partition, more land was given to the Muslim community in the form of Pakistan in proportion to their population, then the government should have the right over the land of the people who went to Pakistan. There was no need of Waqf Board. The Waqf Board came into existence only because of the politics of appeasement and because of that controversies are arising in different parts of the country today.

– Irwin Khanna (Chief Editor, Dainik Uttam Hindu)