Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri.
| Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO
Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday told the Rajya Sabha that the question of seizure of 123 Delhi Waqf Board properties does not arise as their ownership already vested with the Central government.
The Minister’s written response came to a question by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Sushil Modi. Mr. Modi had asked about the grounds for seizure, representations made by the board before a two-member committee on denotified Waqf assets as well as physical inspection and allocation of the properties.
“The ownership of 61 Waqf properties is with the Land and Development Office and 62 properties are with the Delhi Development Authority,” Mr. Puri replied.
He added that mosques account for 61 of these 123 properties and the rest include structures like graveyards, dargahs and mazars.
Mr. Puri also said that the board made no representations or objections before the committee on the subject of denotified Waqf assets. “The Government of India intends to inspect all 123 properties in question. However, actual physical inspection process is yet to begin. Progress of allotment of these properties for other purposes has not been initiated,” he added.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs had earlier this year informed the Delhi Waqf Board about acquiring 123 of its properties, after deciding to “absolve” it of all matters on the listed properties.
In the letter, the Ministry maintained that the board has not filed any representation, despite being given multiple opportunities, before the designated committee set up by the Union government to resolve the matter.
The board approached the Delhi High Court seeking a stay on the letter, but the latter on February 23 refused to do so.
The decision was taken by a single-judge Bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri, which asked the board to file a “substantive” petition and “urge their grounds”.
The court did not dismiss the stay application filed by Delhi Waqf Board chairman Amanatullah Khan and listed the matter for hearing in August.
