Ownership rights of 123 Waqf Board properties rest with Centre: Puri

Days after absolving the Delhi Waqf Board from all matters pertaining to 123 properties, including mosques, dargahs, and graveyards, the Union Housing Ministry said the ownership vests with Centre

Days after it decided to "absolve" the Delhi Waqf Board from all matters pertaining to 123 properties, including mosques, dargahs, and graveyards in the city, the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry on Monday said that the ownership of these establishments already vests with the Central government.

In a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that progress of allotment of these properties for other purposes has not been initiated.

"The ownership of the 123 properties already vests with the Government of India (61 with Land and Development Office and 62 with Delhi Development Authority), therefore the question of seizure of these properties does not arise," Puri said.

The minister said that no representation or objections were made by the Delhi Waqf Board before the two-member Committee on the subject of de-notified waqf assets.

"The Government intends to inspect all 123 properties in question. However, the actual physical inspection process is yet to begin," he said in the written reply.

The Delhi Waqf Board, chaired by AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan, has moved the Delhi High Court, contending that all these properties are either dargahs, mosques or graveyards, which have always remained in its possession and cannot be taken away now on the basis of a report of a two-member committee.