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December is the follow-up month at TNM where we go back to headlines of the past for a status update. In this series, we strive to bring focus back to promises made by governments, revisit official investigations that should have been completed by now and exhume issues of public interest that lost steam over time.
Eight years ago, in April 2014, addressing a meeting in newly-formed Telangana’s Shadnagar, TRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) had announced, “I promise here in Shadnagar, you bring us to power, make our MP’s win, and you will see that in the first four months we will implement 12% reservation for Muslims. This is KCR’s promise.”
“I promise you today, give us a chance and we will surely make a place for us in your hearts by implementing the 12% reservation. We will teach the country a lesson, and they will look at Telangana and learn how to care for the Muslim community,” KCR had added in the same speech.
In the last eight years that the TRS has been in power, several promises have been made to the Muslim community. TNM delves into three promises that KCR made to the Muslim community to check whether they have been fulfilled.
Fast forward eight years from the date the speech was delivered in Shadnagar and one will realise that the promise of 12% reservation for the socially and economically backward amongst the Muslim community in Telangana’s educational institutions and government jobs remains unfulfilled.
In April 2017, a special session of the Telangana Assembly was called and a bill to increase reservations for backward sections among Muslims to 12 percent was unanimously passed. The decision took the total quota in the state to over 50 percent—the limit set by the Supreme Court.
The BJP had called the move unconstitutional and alleged that KCR was trying to provide reservation in the name of religion. However, dismissing the allegations, KCR said he was confident of getting the enhanced quotas legalised by incorporating them in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution though a constitutional amendment. KCR stated the same was done in Tamil Nadu in 1994 wherein the overall quota for various groups is 69%.
The Telangana government forwarded the Muslim Reservation Bill to the Union Government. The government also passed a resolution asking the Centre to clear the Bill. The Centre categorically refused the request of the state government, stating that religion-based reservation cannot be allowed. The Telangana government argued that they plan to provide the reservations only to the socially and economically backward among the Muslim community. Speaking to TNM, a Waqf Board member said, “If gender-based reservation can be given for politicians in certain constituencies based on proportion of a particular gender in the same constituency, why can’t reservation be given to us proportionate to our population?”
Interestingly, an RTI filed by an activist requesting for a copy of the resolution passed by the Telangana government was declined citing legislative privilege, an exemption under the RTI Act.
Speaking to TNM, social activist Lubna Sarwath said she had never believed the promise of 12% reservation for the Muslim community even when it was announced by K Chandrasekhar Rao. “The promise was a political move to win over the community. The bedrock of employment is education but unfortunately today, government schools and colleges are being shut down or being converted into self-aided institutions, leaving students who benefitted from it to fend for themselves. When a government can’t fulfil something as basic as this, how will it fulfil a promise of 12% reservation?” asks Lubna.
On several occasions, Muslim leaders and Muslim organisations have demanded that the CM fulfil his promise of granting 12% reservation to Muslims and also his promise of safeguarding Waqf properties. In the same speech made at Shadnagar, CM had also promised judicial powers to the Waqf Board.
“I also promise that encroached land will be taken back—however powerful the encroachers are. The properties will be reclaimed and the Waqf Board will be given judicial powers, this is also my promise,” KCR had said.
The Telangana state Waqf Board is one of the richest Muslim endowment bodies in India with properties reportedly worth Rs 5 lakh crore. As much as the figure sounds nice to hear, it is merely on paper because about 75% of its properties have been encroached upon. The reason for this large-scale encroachments can be blamed on years of corruption, mismanagement and callousness of successive governments.
When KCR promised that the Waqf Board would be given judicial powers, it came as a glimmer of hope for the people of the community. It meant the Waqf Board would be given the powers to evict encroachers from Waqf properties, without having to go to revenue officials or the legal route—which often makes it a long tedious process.
There are a total of 33,929 Waqf institutions in the state with a total land spread across over 77,500 acres. Out of the total, over 57,400 acres have been encroached upon. The Waqf Board, which is currently dependent on government funds to meet its own expenses can do a lot for the Muslim community by making use of the property it owns for commercial purposes.
Speaking to TNM, Abid Rasool Khan, former chairman of the Minorities Commission said, “Waqf properties need protection. If the government is serious about its promise, the commission should be given a budget. The Waqf Board should be streamlined and should be given judicial powers to evict encroachers.”
Abid Rasool Khan, says in 2016 when he was the chairman of the Minorities Commission, a 1,000-page detailed report regarding the irregularities in the Waqf Board was submitted to the government. He had also written to the Chief Minister urging him to order for a CBI inquiry into the affairs of the Board and its properties.
Empowering the Waqf Board with judicial powers and making it a commissionerate, in line with the powers that the office of the Hindu Endowments Commissioner, has been a long-pending demand.
Questioning the need for providing judicial powers to the Waqf Board, Lubna Sarwath said it had no legal validity. “The Waqf Board was based on the Waqf Act which is an Act under the Union Government. To give judicial powers to the Board, Parliament must amend the Act.”
Lubna believes making the Waqf Tribunal fully functional and transparent can help in quick adjudication of encroached Waqf properties. “The Waqf Act has conferred the Waqf Tribunal with powers equivalent to the High Court. The need of the hour is to make it more transparent. This will also help reduce the burden on the High Court,” Lubna said. The Waqf Tribunal is a civil court that can adjudicate matters related to Waqf properties.
In February 2022, the Supreme Court ruled that 1,654 acres of Manikonda village belonged to the state government, rejecting ownership claims of the Waqf Board. Some of the major allottees who were awarded land through e-auction and went onto establish their institutions on the contentious Manikonda Jagir include the International School of Business (240 acres), Maulana Azad Urdu University (200 acres), Wipro (49 acres), AP Cine Workers Colony (67 acres), Emaar Properties (483 acres) .
The Supreme Court, in its order, categorically declared that the land would vest with the state and the Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC) and was free from encumbrance. The apex court also declared as invalid a notification issued by the Waqf Board claiming ownership of the land as it did not belong to Dargah Hazrat Hussain Shah Vali.
Recollecting KCR’s promise that he would reclaim the land, Lubna Sarwath said, “The Waqf Tribunal maintained that the Lanco Hills was a Waqf property and the same was maintained by the High Court. However, the Supreme Court disposed of the two cases saying that the land is government land and ruled against the Waqf Board. CM KCR had promised to fight the case and reclaim the land that belonged to the Waqf Board. This is yet another promise that was made for political gains to win the support of the community.”
Speaking on the floor of the Assembly in October 2021, KCR had said that Telangana had suffered injustice during the rule of former Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy. “It was during YSR’s term that the Hazrat Hussain Shah Wali Dargah and Biyani Dargah lands were sold. Telangana Rashtra Samithi activists led by Mahmood Ali had staged a dharna fighting for the lands then,” the CM recalled.
Before the SC directive, the Minority Rights Protection Forum of Telangana (MRPF) had demanded that the government withdraw the case from the Supreme Court and handover the lands to the Telangana Waqf Board. They had also threatened that if the government failed to do so, it could become a bone of contention in the next election. However, the government went ahead with the case and finally the apex court ruled in favour of the government.
Speaking to TNM, Abul Fateh Syed Bandagi Badesha Quadri, a Waqf Board member, said he believes the failure to reclaim Waqf lands was their collective failure. According to him, this happened due to policy paralysis and inefficient Board members who were at the helm of affairs. “Rectification of government revenue records is the duty of the government. This is where the government should be held responsible. However, I will not hold KCR responsible for the Waqf Board not having been able to prove ownership over the encroached land.”
Speaking about the disputed land parcels that are now vested with the government due to bona-fide clerical error in revenue records, Quadri said, “The Chief Minister plays a crucial role to protect the interests of the TSIIC and the commitment made by the earlier government. The lands were given away by the Corporation assuming it is their land. Though we all know it is Waqf land, in a court of law, it is the Waqf board that had to prove ownership and that’s where they failed.”
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