The Delhi Waqf Board, responsible for management of over 2,000 Muslim properties across the national Capital, is struggling hard to meet the staff crunch in the department.
According to the sources, as against the 64 sanctioned posts 28 posts, mostly technical and revenue related, are lying vacant which is hampering the upkeep of properties and other works.
"More than 90 percent work of the Waqf Board relates to revenue but there are no revenue officials such as patwari, kanoongo and tehsildar. The last such official retired in 2012 while the post of kanoongo is vacant for last 30 years," an official said.
The problems of managing properties, including land, shops, residential buildings, located at prominent locations such as Daryaganj, Ansari Road, Vasant Kunj, Greater Kailash and other areas, is affected because of the vacancies of technical posts.
The present strength of 36 employees includes about 12-14 peons and drivers and 8 clerks, while there are vacancies of surveyors, junior engineers, zonal officers and revenue staff, the source said.
"Survey work, monitoring encroachment and illegal constructions and collection of revenue are lagging because of the vacancies," they said.
The official work is also hampered because the Waqf Board is yet to re-constituted. Important files and decisions are lying pending because the seven-member board has not been constituted after it was dissolved by the then Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung in October 2016 on charges of "irregularities".
The list of 1964 Waqf properties is going to be expanded with the inclusion of nearly 500 more such properties after they are published in the gazette. The management of all these properties, estimated to be over Rs 1,200 crore, will become impossible if vacancies are not filled," the official said.
The Delhi Waqf Board in its affidavit filed in 2015 had said that since 2014 it had written three letters to the Delhi government for issuance of a notification to constitute a tribunal but nothing had been done.
THE ISSUE
The problem of managing properties, including land, shops, residential buildings, located at prominent locations such as Daryaganj, Ansari Road, Vasant Kunj, Greater Kailash and other areas, is affected because of the vacancies of technical posts.
