Admn-Shia ulema row takes new turn

THE SHIA ulema?s tussle with the district administration for retaining the control of Hussainabad and its Allied Trust took a new turn on Saturday following registration of an FIR against the Administrative Officer (AO) of the Shia Waqf Board. The FIR lodged reportedly on the order of District Magistrate RN Tripathi by Hussainabad Trust superintendent Ahmed Mehndi against Waqf Board AO Ghulam Sayyedain with the Hazratganj police accuses the latter of misusing of office and committing fraud.

THE SHIA ulema’s tussle with the district administration for retaining the control of Hussainabad and its Allied Trust took a new turn on Saturday following registration of an FIR against the Administrative Officer (AO) of the Shia Waqf Board. The FIR lodged reportedly on the order of District Magistrate RN Tripathi by Hussainabad Trust superintendent Ahmed Mehndi against Waqf Board AO Ghulam Sayyedain with the Hazratganj police accuses the latter of misusing of office and committing fraud.

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The bone of contention was the order issued by the AO on January 20 by which he had constituted a 7-member interim committee headed by Maulana Kalbe Jawad to look after Hussainabad Trust. Prior to the formation of the panel, the Shia Waqf Board was managing the Trust with DM as its chairman and ADM (land acquisition) SMA Rizvi as its secretary.

Though the Shia Waqf Board AO had then claimed that it was within his powers to constitute an interim committee, the DM had refused to hand over the charge of the Trust to the  panel headed by  Jawad. The move by the Trust’s superintendent comes two months after the incident, and is said to have been taken at the behest of the administration officials.

In his FIR, the Trust superintendent has accused AO Sayyedain of overstepping his brief and acting in violation of government orders by writing a letter to the DM vis-à-vis the formation of seven-member panel by him.

That the move is likely to intensify the tussle, and this can be gauged from the fact that some members of the Shia Waqf Board have already rallied behind the AO on the issue. “It is the duty of the AO to follow the directives given to him by the Board from time to time. Sayyedain was duly authorised by the Board when he wrote that letter,” said SH Ibrahim, member of the legal cell of the Board.

He said the Board was presently defunct thanks to the indifferent attitude of its chief executive officer SMA Rizvi towards the issue. “In fact, we have already written a letter to the Waqf Secretary demanding removal of Rizvi,” he said adding that a writ petition on the administrative management of Waqf Board filed in the High Court was scheduled for hearing on March 20.