TIRUPPUR: A slew of notices issued by the Tamil Nadu Waqf Board to sub-registrar offices across the State claiming ownership of vast tracts of land with request to authorities to refrain from registering transactions on these properties has landed several land owners in a legal thicket. While the board asserts that the action has been taken as part of its drive to stop encroachments on its properties that have been going on for years, several land owners dispute the board’s claim.
After reports about most part of Thiruchendurai village in Tiruchy district, including a temple, being claimed as waqf property triggered a political war of words, several residents of Cheyvur panchayat village in Avinashi in Tiruppur district have alleged that land owned by them are now being claimed by the State waqf board.
The Central Wakf Act, 1995, defines wakf as permanent dedication by a person professing Islam, of any movable or immovable property for any purpose recognised by the Muslim law as pious, religious or charitable. In Islamic law, once a property is dedicated as waqf, it remains as waqf forever signifying that a waqf is perpetual, inalienable and irrevocable in nature.
In the Avinashi case, as per revenue records, 216 people from Devendrakula Vellalar community were given free patta for over 6.3 acres of land in Devendran Nagar in Cheyvur in 1996. But the beneficiaries are now worried about the ownership of the land as the waqf board, in a letter to sub-registrar offices in Avinashi, Thottipalayam and Joint I and Joint II sub-registrar offices of Tiruppur district on August 8, had claimed around 93 properties on certain survey numbers in Avinashi and Tiruppur as waqf properties. The letter, which contains patta lands of the residents of Devendran Nagar, also warned that renovating waqf properties without approval will invite punishment extending up to two years under Section 52-A of the Wakf Act of 1995.
The issue came to light when Albert (32), a resident of Devendran Nagar, tried to get housing loan for his property in Avinashi. When he was about to register the memorandum of document (MOD) for a piece of land at the sub-registrar office in Avinashi for a bank loan, the officials said the property belonged to waqf board and the transaction can be carried out only after getting a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Tamil Nadu Waqf Board. “I was shocked and shared the news with my neighbours and friends who were also confused,” Albert, a fish shop worker, said.
Speaking to TNIE, Tamil Nadu Waqf Board Chairman M Abdul Rahman said, “Not just in Avinashi, there are lakhs of acres of land belonging to waqf board across the State. We have been receiving complaints about possession, mortgage and sale of waqf land for the past several years. Over the years, many individuals have created fake documents to sell these properties. These illegal transactions have been going on for years. As a first step, we wanted to stop all transactions related to waqf properties across Tamil Nadu.”