Waqf possesses maximum area of lands in the country after the department of Railways and Defence but its 70 per cent land is under illegal possession of land mafia, says a committee headed by K Rahman, Union Minister for Minority Affairs, after surveying the Waqf properties in the country. The report further says that the land is being sold on a very low price compared with that of market value. Giving example of Mukesh Ambani’s multi-storey bungalow at Alta Mount Road in Mumbai, it says that 4532 square meter of Waqf land had been sold to him for just Rs. 21.5 crore while its cost in market was Rs. 150 crore at that time.
Mr. Jamal Rizwi, in his article published in Urdu daily Inquilab on November 4, describes some of the latest “exposed” corruptions in the sale and purchase of Waqf lands. He says, “Implementation of Justice GR Bhattacharya Commission recommendations is the need of time in order to prevent the ‘culture’ of corruption and illegal possession on Waqf land.”