Tejasvi Surya slams Waqf Board for claiming rights over 1,500 acres of ancestral land of farmers

Bengaluru: BJP leader Tejasvi Surya on Friday said the Karnataka State Board of Waqfs has claimed its ownership over 1,500 acres of ancestral land of farmers in Honvada village in Vijayapura district in North Karnataka.

The Bengaluru South MP said that the farmers of Honvada village in Tikota Taluk were served notices declaring their lands as Waqf property "with no evidence or explanation provided".

In a statement, Surya alleged that Karnataka Waqf Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan directed the deputy commissioner and revenue officials to register lands in favour of the Waqf Board within 15 days.

"In recent months, farmers from the Vijayapura district have been served notices declaring their lands as waqf property, with no evidence or explanation provided. The extent of these claims is staggering, with nearly 1,500 acres claimed in a single village of Honvada," the BJP leader said.

He alleged, "Khan recently visited and directed the deputy commissioner and revenue officials to register lands in favour of the Waqf Board within 15 days, with the aim to circumventing the reforms being brought in by PM Narendra Modi-led government through the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024."

Surya rued that this entire process is being executed in violation of the principles natural justice, sidelining farmers while their land titles are being changed to the Waqf Board's name in revenue records.

"India runs on the basis of the rule of law and the Constitution, not on Sharia or instructions of Ministers like Zameer Ahmed Khan," he added.

The troubling actions by the Waqf Board were threatening the livelihoods and rights of families who have tilled these lands for generations, the MP, who is also Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha president said.

He slammed the Congress for drafting laws giving unbridled and unchecked powers to the Waqf Board with the 1955 and 2013 Waqf Acts.

He stated that the Waqf law of 1955 and Amendment of 2013 provide the Waqf Board unchecked power to claim any property as Waqf land.

He further said that any citizen affected by the Waqf Board's claims over his or her land is forced to approach the Waqf Tribunal itself for settlement of the issue instead of a civil court.

"The law further takes away the right of appeal of a citizen over his property by making the decision of the tribunal final. By enacting such laws the Congress has committed a betrayal to citizens across the country," he alleged.