Kalaburagi district administration urged to remove encroachment by dargah on government land
The Hindu
KALABURAGI
Stating that there has been encroachment upon government land by the Hazrat Shaik Sirajuddin Junaidi Dargah in Kalaburagi, Siddalinga Swamy, honorary president of Sri Ram Sene and head of Karuneshwar Mutt, Andola in Jewargi taluk, has set a one-week deadline for the district administration to remove the encroached structure from the government land.
Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Siddalinga Swami said that the dargah authorities, including Sajjada Nasheen and Muttawalli of Dargah Hazrat Shaik Sirajuddin Junaidi, have encroached upon 65,260 sq ft land and constructed a religious structure, an education institution, function hall, meeting hall and got them registered under the Karnataka State Board of Wakf in 2021.
Providing detailed documents of the encroached land, Siddalinga Swami said that as per the tonch map, city survey documents and the Wakf Board records, neither the building nor the religious structure were present before 2002-03. In 2005, the dargah authorities constructed two classrooms adjacent to the original dargah towards north and in 2011, they expanded the building with a few more classrooms and started an English-medium school. They also constructed a function hall in 2015. Further, it was renovated with guest rooms in 2017.
He said that though the dargah authorities have successfully manipulated by allotting multiple PID numbers for the illegally registered property, the records confirmed that the property tax for the illegal constructions was not paid from 2002-03 to 2022-23.
Based on a complaint filed by petitioner Somashekar Mathapati in 2021, the Karnataka State Wakf Board suspended the District Wakf officer Hazarat Ali Nadaf for encroachment and registration of land belonging to the city corporation in the name of the dargah authorities.
Providing evidence, Siddalinga Swami criticised Kalaburagi North MLA Kaneez Fatima for writing to the Principal Secretary of the Department of Minority Welfare and Wakf seeking the withdrawal of the suspension order issued to the officer. In her letter, the legislator also said that the property was in the possession of Dargah Hazrat Shaik Sirajuddin Junaidi since time immemorial and defended that the officer Mr. Nadaf followed the proper procedure laid down by the Wakf Board while registering the property.
Meanwhile, the High Court of Karnataka in Kalaburagi on October 20, 2022 ordered that the Kalaburagi City Corporation Commissioner dispose of the case within three months from the date of order (October 20, 2022).
“We are judges and therefore, cannot act like Mughals of a bygone era ... the writ courts in the guise of doing justice cannot transcend the barriers of law,” the High Court of Karnataka observed while setting aside an order of a single judge, who in 2016 had extended the lease of a public premises allotted to a physically challenged person to 20 years contrary to 12-year period stipulated in the law.
The High Court of Karnataka on Monday declined to interfere, at present, in the investigation against a Bharatiya Janata Party worker, who is among the accused persons facing charges of circulating obscene clips, related to “morphed” images and videos clips related to Prajwal Revanna, former Hassan MP, in public domain through pen drives and other modes.
The 16th edition of Bhoomi Habba was held on June 8, at the Visthar campus. The festival drew a vibrant crowd who came together to celebrate eco-consciousness through a variety of engaging activities, creative workshops, panel discussions, interactive exhibits and performances, all centered around this year’s theme: “Save Water, Save Lives.”