Mangaluru : Minister for Minorities Welfare and Wakf Qamarul Islam on Friday claimed that there had not been a proper enumeration of wakf properties in the State, except the one done in 1964.
The survey done in 1964 could not be said to be authentic as it had been conducted by wakf officials themselves and not by the revenue authorities.
“The State government has initiated a survey of wakf properties as per the provisions of the Wakf (Amendment) Act, 2013, passed by Parliament and it is expected to be completed in six months,” he told presspersons when asked about the Anwar Manippadi report on wakf properties.
Deputy commissioners would get the survey done through the Survey and Resettlement Department and would issue gazette notification identifying the properties, he said.
Mr. Islam said that the survey in Dakshina Kannada was complete and there were 685 properties spread over 330.29 acres.
In all, there are about 34,000 wakf properties in Karnataka with around 2 lakh acres of area under their possession, he said.
Section 4 (1A) of the Amended Act said, “The survey of auqaf shall be completed within a period of a year from the date of commencement of the Wakf (Amendment) Act, 2013, in case such survey was not done before the commencement of the Wakf (Amendment) Act, 2013.”
The survey, Mr. Islam said would cover the entire gamut of wakf properties, including those ceded to others and those newly added after 1954. Surveyed properties would be mapped through GIS, he said.
Stating that vast extents of wakf properties had been encroached upon, even by government officials, Mr. Islam noted that there needed to be authentic record to prove the encroachment.
The fresh survey would come handy for evicting the encroachers, the Minister said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Islam said the report of Mr. Manippadi could not be technically called a report it did not have any legal sanctity, he said.