Waqf Board claims 53 ASI sites in Karnataka

Hubballi: The Waqf Board is claiming at least 53 historical monuments across Karnataka, including the famous Gol Gumbaz, Ibrahim Rauza, Bara Kaman in Vijayapura, the forts at Bidar and Kalaburagi, as its own.

Of these, 43 in Vijayapura, the erstwhile capital city of Adil Shahis, have already been declared Waqf properties by the Waqf Board in 2005, with many of them encroached upon and subjected to senseless alterations.

According to information availed by DH through RTI, the Waqf Board has declared 43 centrally protected monuments at Vijayapura as Waqf properties taking advantage of the same ROR/PR cards (Record of Rights/government’s certificate given to the owner of the property). “While ASI is the holder of the land/monument, the encumbrance is the Waqf authority. This has been done without consulting ASI,” says the RTI response from the Union government.

Documents show that these protected monuments were declared Waqf properties in 2005 by the Health and Family Welfare Department (Medical Education) Principal Secretary Mohammad Mohsin, who then held the position of both deputy commissioner and chairman of Waqf Board, Vijayapura.

“I don’t remember how many monuments were declared as Waqf properties. But whatever I have done is according to the government gazette notification issued by the Revenue Department and authentic documentary evidence produced by the parties,” said Mohsin.

Most of them were notified as monuments of national importance by the then British government on November 12, 1914.

ASI happens to be the “sole owner” for maintaining, renovating and conservation of these properties according to the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites Remains (AMASR) Act and Rules of 1958. Officials say once an ASI property, it is always an ASI property as there are no provisions to denotify them.

The Waqf Board is claiming six monuments in Hampi circle and four in Bengaluru circle of ASI besides the Masjid-i-Ala in Srirangapatna. Dharwad circle, under which the Vijayapura monuments come, did not provide a list of other monuments that the Waqf is claiming.

Sources in ASI say that almost all the 43 monuments in Vijayapura have been either encroached, defaced or unscientifically renovated by “third-parties”. The premises of Mulla Mosque and Yakub Dabuli’s Mosque and tomb have been converted into a madrasa. The monuments represent Indo-Islamic architecture and were proposed to be nominated for the World Heritage Site list.

“Monuments are the living examples of our history. Monuments can be renovated/conserved in the prescribed manner only by ASI. However, the 43 monuments in Vijayapura are being defaced and are being repaired with plaster and cement. Fans, air conditioners, fluorescent lights and toilets are being added to the monuments. Shopkeepers have taken over certain properties. This is adversely impacting the flow of tourists to these monuments,” said an officer who did not wish to be named.

In several of its communications since 2007, the Union government’s Ministry of Culture has informed the Vijayapura deputy commissioner, Minorities Welfare Department and Karnataka Chief Secretary to clear the encroachments as the protected monuments are being misused by making alterations and illegal commercial and residential constructions have come up.

According to ASI officials, neither the Vijayapura DC office nor the Waqf Board has submitted any valid documents to the ASI to prove that these monuments belonged to Waqf even after a joint survey was conducted
in 2012.

Senior ASI officials in Karnataka, who have been instructed not to comment on the Waqf issue, stated that the ownership status of the centrally protected monuments under the provision of the AMASR Act cannot be changed/altered/modified or added.