Encroachment of Wakf land in Mangaluru: BJP leader’s multi-crore complex raises eyebrows

coastaldigest.com news network
December 26, 2017

Amidst uproar over encroachments of the Wakf properties across India, a huge building has illegally come up on a Wakf land worth several crores of rupees in the heart of the city of Mangaluru in coastal Karnataka. Shockingly, the local administration too has helped a politician’s family to construct the illegal building on the land belonging to the historic Kutchi Memon Masjid in the city.

In fact, the illegal construction work on the Wakf land started around three years ago and now a six-story commercial-cum-residential complex has almost reached its completion after illegally crossing several legal hurdles. Reliable sources said that a leader of Bhartiya Janata Party had managed to mislead the officials of Mangaluru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) and Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) and obtain licence for the constriction with the help of an illegal ‘permission letter’ from a staff of the mosque.

Occupancy tenants

The 2.5 acres land belonging to the mosque and located at Golikatta Bazar in Bundar area of Mangaluru city had been declared as Wakf property in 1968 through a gazette notification. For the past few years, one Keshava Mijar and his family had been living in 69 cents of land of the same 2.5 acres as occupancy tenants (moola geni basis). Around three years ago, Keshava Mijar’s five children including Ravishankar Mijar, vice-president of Dakshina Kannada district unit of BJP, jointly started constructing a complex after demolition the small buildings on the land.

Completely illegal

Any development work or construction of building on a Wakf land without obtaining a no objection certificate (NOC) directly from the Wakf board will be considered illegal. However, a staff of the mosque, apparently violating his jurisdiction, had reportedly given a written permission using the official letterhead of the mosque to the tenants (Mijar siblings) to construct the complex. The tenants had reportedly paid him Rs 12.5 lakh for this favour. 

Even though the permission letter given by the staff of the mosque doesn’t authorise the tenants to construct the building, they went ahead with their multi-crore project. In December 2013, the MUDA provided single site approval to the tenants in violation of the rules or without verifying the documents of the land. In November 2014, the tenants received licence for the construction work from the MCC too. 

MCC serves notices

Even thought the illegal construction process started three years ago the state Wakf board recently woke up following a complaint and directed the local administration to stop the illegal construction work. After realising its blunder, the MCC served notices to Ravishankar Mijar and his siblings.

Rs 100 rent for 69 cents land!

However, the BJP leader and his siblings have claimed that the land legally belongs to them. “We, the five siblings, have obtained single site approval from the MUDA. Hence, we have all the rights to construct the building in this 69 cents land. Besides, we are still paying Rs 100 rent every month to the mosque without fail. There is no meaning in arguing that this is Wakf land,” says Ravishankar Mijar.

Legal action awaited

According to MCC Commissioner Mohammed Nazir, the civic body had granted licence for the construction of the complex based on the single site approval issued by the MUDA in 2013 to Ravishankar Mijar and siblings. “However, now we have received information that the property belongs to the Wakf. Hence we will seek the opinion from the legal advisors before taking further action,” he said.

Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner Sasikanth Senthil said that he had already directed the assistant commissioner to look into the issue. “If there are sufficient documents to prove that it’s a Wakf land then the building will be considered illegal and further action will be taken,” he said. 

Dakshina Kannada Wakf Advisory Committee chief Kanachur Monu holds MCC and MUDA officials responsible for illegal construction. “A tenant cannot become the owner of the Wakf land just by bribing some people. Even if he creates some documents, they are considered illegal documents. The tenants have illegally constructed a building on land worth Rs 30 crore. It is the responsibility of the authorities concerned to clear the encroachment at the earliest and reclaim the Wakf land,” he said.

Comments

Once Mr Anwar Manipadi submiting wakf property list in a TV Debate  howcome he missed this property 

 

May be he was with Pakistani wakf delegates at that time, these days our leadrs are good in attaending birthdays and shaadi and meeting  Paki delegates  and to be honest we dont have to Bribe people get letter  to show honesty  and Naionalist.

 

Abdullah
 - 
Wednesday, 27 Dec 2017

Waqf board is sleeping ....

Mbeary
 - 
Wednesday, 27 Dec 2017

Name the mosque staff 

Lets name and shame him

he has eaten the money of the yatheem

Naren Kotian
 - 
Wednesday, 27 Dec 2017

This might be the case of encroachment of BJP land by mosque. I know mijar family and they are very honest and nationalist people. They don’t want the property of Pakistani supporters. It was BJP which exposed the encroachment of Wakf property by Congress minister. But Sidramullah’s Khan grace govt is fooling muzzis.

Reader
 - 
Wednesday, 27 Dec 2017

This is not just the case of Mangalore. Everywhere in India we can see same situation. Unfortunately this scam is growing across the country. 

Pokar Beary
 - 
Wednesday, 27 Dec 2017

Congress government will not take action because it knows that many of Congress bigwigs are doing the same. Paying Rs 10 monthly rent to the mosques and running giant commercial complexes and earning crores. 

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 6,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 6: Activist Irom Chanu Sharmila took part in a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR) at Sir Puttanna Chetty Town Hall here on Sunday.

Sharmila, who came in the protest along with her child, took part in a 'burqa and bindi' protest marking the birth anniversary of social reformer Savitribai Phule.

Protests have erupted across the country over the CAA which grants citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Parsi, Buddhist, and Christian refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
July 2,2020

A 7-year-old Dalit girl who had gone missing from outside her residence in Tamil Nadu’s Pudukkottai district on June 30 was found dead last evening. 

Police sources said that the body with severe injures was found in a forest area bordering her village. The young girl had been sexually assaulted before the murder, according to police.

Victim’s neighbour, Raja, 25, who belongs to the Pandaram caste, has been arrested in connection with the incident.

While they have included murder charges in the First Information Report (FIR) against him, they are awaiting the post-mortem report to add sections of the Protection of Children against Sexual Offence Act (POCSO act) in the FIR.

"The girl was playing outside her home at 4pm. Her parents then found her missing and her father filed a complaint at the station at around 7pm. Efforts were then underway to find the girl," said an investigating official.

They found the minor's body in the forest area near her village on the evening of July 1. Her clothes were in a state of disarray and her face was severely injured.

"She has been beaten with sticks on the face and injuries are clearly visible. The post-mortem will reveal the actual cause of death," says an official from the district.

Police sources further add that the neighbour had found the minor roaming around the area on Wednesday and allegedly took advantage of the fact that she was alone.

"During inquiry he admitted that he had sexually assaulted and murdered the girl," says a police official from the district. "Further investigation is underway and we will have more clarity once we get the post mortem report," he adds.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
coastaldigest.com web desk
June 17,2020

Remember social media memes of Chinese companies exporting #BoycottChina hats and t-shirts to India? This time India’s sensational and saffronite TV anchor Arnab Goswami vindicated those memes by hosting an anti-China debate show which was sponsored by Chinese companies!

While the last night's debate was all about boycotting Chinese products in the wake of massacre of over 20 Indian soldiers by their Chinese counterparts in eastern Ladakh, the show was brazenly promoting Chinese products through advertisement placements. 

During the debate, amongst the flashy headlines, there were two brand sponsorships that appeared: VIVO and Xiaomi. Both companies are giant Chinese multinational corporations. 

Twitter user Nirmala Tai, who was among those who spotted this irony, highlighted two instances during the debate where the logo of one of the brands popped up, and one where Xiaomi was found promoting the Mi 10. 

Many Twitterati used Goswami’s some of the favourite words such as ‘hypocrite’ and ‘anti-national’ to target him. They hit out at his channel for accepting sponsorship deals from Chinese brands at a time when anti-China sentiment is strong in the country.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.