According to waqf board officials, Pune has nearly 2,800 Waqf properties on 3,724.55 hectares of land located in prime areas like Deccan Gymkhana, Kondhwa, Baner and Aundh estimated at over Rs 30,000 crores which have been seized illegally and are subject to litigation. According to waqf board officials in Pune, the issue concerned a 50-acre waqf land belonging to a Mughal-era mosque in Kondhwa Budruk, 80 acres spread from More Vidyalaya to ILS Law College in Deccan, including plots of waqf land Karve, 23 acres of waqf land Aundh and Pimple Nilakh are also treated with highest priority.
Waqf activists have demanded action against Waqf board members who served between 2011 and 2013, where they were accused of issuing fraudulent No Objection Certificates (NOCs) to land sharks the helping to sell waqf properties.
In October last year, police in Beed arrested another collector, NR Shelke, for selling over 1,000 acres of Waqf Land. An FIR has been registered against 15 people including Revenue Department officials for illegally selling 409 acres and five guntha (each guntha being equal to 0.025 acre) of Waqf land in Beed district of Maharashtra by creating fake documents as well as the government stamp and seals, police said on Wednesday. In December 2021, an FIR under Sections 409, 420, 467, 468, 471, 34 and Section 52(A) of the Waqf Rules at Shivajinagar Beed Police Station based on the complaint of the District Waqf officer on 29 December. According to the FIR, the accused prepared false documents, stamps and seals of government agents and illegally sold 409 acres and 5 guntha lands from a parcel of 796 acres and 37. The main accused include the tax collector deputy of the time, revenue clerks, talathis, tehsildars and officials. of the tax service and land registers. Currently, the Magdoom Bibi Waqf Trust Panel waqf land scam, where a fake NOC was issued, is under investigation by law enforcement authorities.
Dr Mirza said: “There is a need to investigate the deep rooted link between waqf land criminals and government officials and take the ramifications of scams in the state, SIT is the best option to end this threat of bribery and counterfeiting,” he said.