Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal has issued instructions for a fresh statewide survey of Wakf properties through out the state.
Presiding over the meeting of home department, here yesterday the deputy chief minister regretted that home department was not having proper record of Wakf properties and in the absence of proper monitoring and control, these precious properties were being illegally encroached and in many cases the character of the building has been converted into commercial property.
An official release said here today Badal also constituted a Survey Commission to identify and map all properties of the Wakf Board in the state. Jaspal Singh, secretary revenue has been appointed as state survey commissioner.
It was informed in the meeting that survey commissioner would be assisted in the respective districts deputy commissioners, who have been designated additional survey commissioners.
Asking the Home department to come out with a watertight policy on Wakf Properties, Badal also asked them to frame rules under section 109 of the Wakf Act, 1995 to protect properties belonging to the Wakf board.He regretted that there is no record so far to suggest how many properties of the Wakf Board have been illegally occupied by the people. It was informed in the meeting that according to initial estimates Wakf Board has over 24,335 properties.
There is no detail available about the current status of these properties, he said adding that the survey commission will plot all the properties in Punjab, both in the rural and urban areas and indicate their current status.
He also issued instructions to identify all those properties that belong to the state and farmers of the state, but have been wrongly included in the list of Wakf properties.
The survey would help in preserving and maintaining these properties in the future, he said.
