Union Minister denies out of court settlement in Lanco case

Hyderabad, Dec 6 (INN): Union Minister for Minorities Affairs Dr K Rahman Khan on Friday denied reports that he was pursing an out of court settlement with the Lanco Hills over a dispute over Wakf property.

Addressing a press conference here, Rahman Khan denied all such reports as baseless and said that the Andhra Pradesh State Wakf Board was in a strong position in the title suit going on in the Supreme Court over 1100 acres of land belonging to Dargah Hazrat Hussain Shah Wali.

He said that there were no possibilities of any out of court settlement in the Lanco Hills and the decision of the Supreme Court would be final.

It may be mentioned that members of Andhra Pradesh State Wakf Board boycotted a meeting convened by him to review the status of Wakf properties in the State alleging that the Union Minister was trying to favour Lanco Hills through an out of court settlement.

Meanwhile, the Union Minister informed that the Central Wakf Act 1995 got more teeth due to the recent amendments made in the act. He said that the amendment has put a ceiling on the long-term lease of Wakf properties which had earlier led to illegal encroachments.

Now the maximum lease period for any Wakf land will be 30 years and it will be mandatory for the State Wakf Boards to publish a notification in leading newspapers before giving any land on lease. He said that the amendments would help in protection and development of Wakf properties.

Rahman Khan said that the Central Wakf Council would give necessary guidelines to the States and they would have to be followed. Under Section 52 (A) of the Act, encroachment or stay beyond lease period would attract criminal action with maximum punishment upto three years imprisonment. The State Wakf Board can directly register the FIR against the encroachers.

The Union Minister said that the Wakf Tribunals would comprise three members and from now on, all disputes related to Wakf properties would be heard in Tribunal instead of civil courts. A Central Legal Standing Committee and Task Force too have been constituted for the protection of Wakf properties in the country.

Rahman Khan said that the National Wakf Development Corporation would soon become active. Of Rs 500 Crore total capital, about Rs 100 Crore would be infused into the corporation. He said that the Wakf properties would be developed on BoT (Built-operate-Transfer) basis.

He informed that there are about 3.80 lakh Wakf properties across the country having attached land of about 4 lakh acres. However, he said nearly 50 per cent of these properties have been encroached upon. He hoped that the recent amendments in the Wakf Act would help remove these encroachments.