Maha govt to remove names of individuals from Wakf properties

The Maharashtra government has directed its Revenue Department to remove names of individuals as owners of Wakf properties and instead name the Board or organisations as the owner.

The state government issued a GR (government resolution) yesterday, in which it ordered the revenue officials to carry out a survey across the state in order to remove the names of individual owners from Wakf lands.

The decision is aimed on curbing possible misuse of Wakf land, whereby part of the land is sold to private entities in violation of the Wakf Board notification, 1995.

In the GR, the government has directed the Settlement Commissioner and Director of Land Records to undertake the survey, granting it permission to hire retired officers for some posts for the purpose.

As per the data available with the Maharashtra State Wakf Board, there are 23,566 listed Wakf properties in the state, ad-measuring 37,330.97 hectares.