The Karnataka State Board of Auqaf has written to Canara Bank to drop the portion of wakf property situated in Udayagiri in Mysuru from properties listed for e-auction on November 30 against the recovery of loan liabilities amounting to ₹32.73 crore due from Rifah Ul Muslimeen Educational Trust.
In a letter dated November 25, the Chief Executive Officer of the Board said the property measuring 159.5 ft x 300.42 ft (47,916.99 sq ft) in Site No. A (Municipal Khata No. A-1 to A-14) Mahadevapura Main Road in Udayagiri is registered as Wakf property.
Following an order issued by the then administrator of Karnataka State Board of Auqaf in November 2017, the then Chief Executive Officer had issued a Certificate of Registration on January 30, 2018, declaring the aforesaid property as Waqf as per section 40 of the Waqf Act 1995.
According to an auction sale notice issued by the bank on October 27, the description of one of the immovable assets listed for e-auction is all the piece and parcel of the property bearing site no. A Municipal khatha No. A-1 to A-14 situated on Mahadevapura Main Road in Udayagiri measuring 500 ft X 170 + 150/2.
The CEO of the Board has urged the bank to “issue a modified e-auction notification in the interest of justice”.
The Board’s letter to the bank comes after protests by certain organisations in Mysuru against the auction of the property and the affairs of RMET, which runs a string of 14 educational institutions in the City, and an appeal by former Minister and Congress MLA representing Narasimharaja Assembly constituency in Mysuru Tanveer Sait urging the Board to immediately intervene in the matter and halt the auction.
Mr. Sait said the RMET had obtained a loan amounting to ₹8.75 crore during 2008-09, but due to non-payment of the dues, the liability had risen to an amount in excess of ₹32 crore.
He said bank should drop its move to take possession of the pledged Wakf land and instead consider recovering its dues by other means including from the properties owned of the trustees of RMET, who were responsible for taking the loan.
Mr. Sait has also called for a probe into the affairs of RMET, which had earlier pledged about 2 acres of Wakf land in Eidgah in Mysuru. The bank had dropped the move to take possession of the land in Eidgah after the Karnataka State Board of Wakf had intervened in 2015.
Already criminal proceedings in a case filed against RMET in this connection was pending before the Wakf Tribunal, Mr. Sait said.
