HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday directed the Telangana government to complete the process of digitisation of records of Wakf Board in six weeks and hand over the data base and original records to the Board.The bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice G Shyam Prasad was passing this order in a PIL filed by MAK Mukheed, practicing advocate of high court, challenging the action of ls of minority and welfare department and revenue department in sealing the office of the Telangana state Wakf board and seizing its entire files and records at Razzaq Manzil near Nampally in the city.
When the matter came up for hearing, Telangana advocate general D Prakash Reddy submitted that the officials had sealed only the records room and not the entire premises as alleged by the petitioner.
Steps have already been taken for digitalising, scanning and preparing an inventory of the Wakf properties situated across the state, and the process to complete the work would take about six weeks time, he added.
On the other hand, petitioner’s counsel Qureshi pointed out that the government can only issue a direction to the Wakf Board to take up the above works since it has no power to do.
After hearing both sides, the bench said that the government’s intention to digitalize the records cannot be found fault with. However, the manner in which the seals were put was not proper.
The bench directed the government to complete digitization works in six weeks and thereafter to return the original records and data base to the Wakf Board, and disposed of the case.