UP Waqf board denies setting up probe against IAS officer Durga

The UP Sunni Central Waqf Board has rejected media reports that it has ordered an inquiry into the role of Durga Shakti Nagpal in the demolition of an under-construction wall of a mosque at Kadalpur Village in Greater Noida.

“I was aghast to see reports in a section of the media that the Sunni Central Waqf Board was happy with the role of the suspended IAS officer. The reporter did not care to cross-check the facts with us,” board’s chairman Zufar Ahmed Farooqui told Hindustan Times.

Qadir Khan Jayswal, secretary of the board-appointed Hazrat Syed Bhureshah Committee, had on Monday praised Nagpal’s role in getting waqf land in the region cleared of encroachments.

Distancing the board from Jayswal’s statement, Farooqui said: “Views expressed by an individual or a member of a dargah committee appointed by the waqf board does not reflect the opinion or stand of the board on the issue.”

Similarly, UP waqf minister Mohd Azam Khan on Tuesday said the board had not received any complaint about the land on which the mosque was coming up. He said the role of various committees of the waqf board was limited to solving the disputes related to waqf properties

Farooqui said a showcause notice was being issued to Jayswal, who has been summoned to Lucknow to explain his conduct. “We have 1.40 lakh waqf properties registered with us. Each property is looked after by a management committee of 10 members. This means that around 14 lakh people are associated with us but their views does not represent the stand of the board on any issue,” he said.

He refused to set up a probe into the demolition of the wall. “We are, however, expecting a delegation from Kadalpur Village to apprise us about the incident after Eid,” he said.

Relying on media reports, senior Muslim clerics said the matter should have been handled carefully.

“Even if the wall of the mosque was illegal, she should not have initiated the action after Maghrib (evening) prayers, that too during Ramzan. It would certainly have flared up tension in the area,” Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahali, Imam Eidgah, said.

“I don’t buy the argument that she has been suspended for demolishing a wall. But she should have first tried to persuade the villagers and taken action only as a last resort,” said Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawad.