HYDERABAD: Chief secretary SP Singh will head the probe committee to investigate the charges against Wakf Board. “The other members of the committee will be Hyderabad collector Yogitha Rana and two Mutawalis from the state revenue department,” said the board officials, who did not want to be named.
Following a report from the minorities welfare department about setting up a committee to probe Wakf Board irregularities, Wakf activists came forward with charges of corruption against the department.
Data received by Wakf activists, which was reportedly tabled by the minorities welfare department in a meeting, reveals that the department has been misusing the money allocated for minorities. The document carrying the details of budget estimates released and spent by the department under scheme expenditure has a column for Gudumba rehabilitation, for which the budget allocation is nil.
However they spent over `3 crore on this. Wakf Activist Athar Moin said: “It is amusing that a department, which holds no transparency, is talking about probing corruption charges against another department. Gudumba rehabilitation is not an issue among Muslims but among other religious communities.”
Meanwhile, a public interest litigation was filed in the Hyderabad High Court on Friday challenging the action of officials of minority and revenue departments in sealing the office of Wakf Board and seizing the files and records of Wakf Board near Nampally. Petitioner MAK Mukheed, an advocate, submitted that officials of minority department or revenue wing do not have the power to seal the Wakf office nor seize its files. The matter is expected to come up for hearing on Tuesday.