DM says not my nod. Then who gave it?

TO KEEP shady characters at bay, the department of Minorities Welfare and Waqfs introduced a system of obtaining character certificates from the police before appointing a muttawalli.

TO KEEP shady characters at bay, the department of Minorities Welfare and Waqfs introduced a system of obtaining character certificates from the police before appointing a muttawalli.

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All DMs were asked to comply with orders passed less than eight months ago, unless it was backed by a certificate issued either by them or the police heads of that district. The order, a copy of which is in the possession of the Hindustan Times, specifically asks DMs to provide the government a copy of the certificate before a person is allowed to function as muttawalli.

This order was given a royal bypass when it came to appointing a well-known ‘friend’ of the Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Mohd Ismail Shareef the caretaker/manager of city’s oldest and biggest seminary — the Jaam-e-Uloom. The Board went ahead without following standard procedure and the city administration was not asked to get his character verified by the police.

Instead, Shareef and his team staged a coup of sorts when the seminary was closed and all students had gone to their homes for summer vacation. Although it is said that keys were made available to the new team, sources present a different story. According to them, the locks were broken and all is untouched so far at seminary are two safes, containing documents.

Again in the process, the Board overlooked another major fact pertaining to the shoora that is yet to be formed. The question arises when shoora is not in place, who elected him mohtammim. Why did the board never ask the necessary numbers of shoora members supporting him? An equally important poser is why the board kept sitting on an approval sought by the elected shoora for one year and instantly accepted a body that was never-elected?

“All this make intentions of the waqf board more than dubious. The administration must act and find out the truth behind the appointment of shady characters at an internationally acclaimed centre of Islamic theology,” said a top cleric, pleading anonymity. In fact, a large section of Muslim clerics denounced the new team. They want the administration to intervene and bring a team that is more interested in the welfare of the seminary, rather than eyeing its property worth Rs 150 crore.

Meanwhile, the District Magistrate (city), Anurag Shrivastava, confirmed to the Hindustan Times that no recommendation was made for Shareef’s appointment, nor did the administration execute any order with regard to Shareef’s appointment.