The dubious deal between the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) and Emaar Properties PJSC is getting murkier with the Wakf Board on Wednesday alleging that the agreement between the two parties was null and void.Their claim: The 535 acres of land in Manikonda village given to Emaar by APIIC is part of the 1,654 acres and 32 guntas belonging to the Wakf institution, Dargah Hazrath Hussain Shah Vali,and not the government.Hence,as land owners,a deal signed without the boards consent is illegal,they say. For three years now,the Wakf board has been fighting a legal battle with the government over this land,but to no avail.However,with the APIIC-Emaar deal coming under cloud,they hope to make a breakthrough in the case that has been pending in the High Court.The charges made by the Wakf Board in the case are as follows: Illegal possession of Wakf property by the government;selling of this land to private parties without the consent of the board;non-payment of compensation,either in the form of land or money,to the board in return for the property.
To begin with,the legal counsel of the board allege that the government,in defiance of both a Nazim-e-Atiyath order (of 1957) and a High Court judgment,transferred the entire property on its name.The board was not aware of the development at any stage.The lawyer claims,the High Court judgment of both 1961 and 2007 clearly states that the above mentioned land belongs to the Wakf Board.The government ignored both of them. A copy of these orders are in the possession of TOI. Further,the government,under APIIC,sold close to 80 per cent of this land to private parties without the consent of the Wakf Board the legal owner of the land.The right of the board over the land is not disputable under any law.Yet,APIIC signed the deals without the knowledge of the board.This clearly makes these deals illegal, the counsel said.
Worse,APIIC did not make any offer to compensate the boards loss.It is a prime property worth at least Rs 20 crore per acre.But not a penny has reached the board coffers so far.The boards demand that the entire property be returned to it has also not yielded any result, said the source from the board. As things stand now,the Wakf Board has been kicked out of its own land and is left to fight a longdrawn legal battle.Each time the case comes up for hearing,APIIC brings up a different excuse to get the hearing posted for a later date, the lawyer added. Meanwhile,with the APIICEmaar deal coming to the fore,activists and politicians fighting for the Wakf s rights are gearing for a fresh battle.This case has exposed the illegal dealings of APIIC and now it is only a matter of time before the government loses the case against Wakf Board too, said MIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi adding,As for Emaar and other private groups functioning on property,they can turn tenants of the board and pay rent for using the land.
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Decision on murky deal at board meet
Reacting to the 535-acre Emaar land deal controversy,B R Meena,vice-chairman and managing director of the APIIC said that the final decision on Emaar properties misdoing would be taken at the next board meeting of the corporation.Emaar has sold its stake in the Boulder Hills project at Gachibowli (which came up on land leased out to Emaar by APIIC) to Emaar MGF,an offshoot of the Emaar group.At the Tuesdays board meeting,we have already discussed the matter at length.We will take a final call on the case at the next board meeting,the date for which has not been fixed yet, Meena said.Further,he rubbished claims that the APIIC top brass was in the know of things about the Emaar-MGF deal.
As part of the 2003 agreement with Emaar Properties we did have two representatives on the board of APIIC-Emaar joint venture.But these officials did not have any authority to take a decision on APIICs behalf.Emaar should have separately informed the government body about this deal, Meena said.
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(Dource-TOI)
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