New Delhi, Mar 4 (PTI) Four of the seven Delhi Waqf Board members on Friday submitted a notice of no-confidence motion against chairman Amanatullah Khan to the Lieutenant Governor’s office, levelling allegations of corruption, illegal recruitment and high-handedness against him.
The four members asked Lt Governor Anil Baijal to convene a Board meeting within 18 days to decide the no-confidence motion.
Khan, AAP MLA from Okhla, termed the allegations against him “false”.
“Those accusing me of being dishonest are themselves corrupt. I have evidence against them,” he said.
Former Congress MP and a member of the Delhi Waqf Board Parvez Hashmi said that the notice was signed by four members, including two nominated by the AAP government itself.
“There were a lot of complaints regarding the functioning of the Waqf Board under Khan. Besides corruption and irregularities, there are other issues such as pending salaries of Imams of mosques that come under the Waqf Board’s jurisdiction and rent collection,” Hashmi said.
Besides Hashmi, the notice for the no-confidence motion was signed by Chaudhary Shareef Ahmad, Razia Sultana and Naeem Fatima Kazmi. No reaction was immediately available from them.
Khan, a third-time chairman of the Waqf Board, is not alien to controversies. He had resigned from the Board in 2016 and 2018 over allegations of corruption.
Sources said that Khan has been trying to boost the Board’s revenue by streamlining the collection of rent from properties under it. The Board, however, was unable to pay wages and salaries of its contractual staff and Imams due to lack of funds, they said.
The Imams recently staged a protest at the Waqf Board office demanding their payment which is pending for 11 months. The contractual employees had also launched a protest last year demanding that their dues be cleared. Salaries of these contractual employees are still pending for about three to four months, the sources said. PTI VIT VIT CJ CJ
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