Anwar Manipaddy
Bangalore 27 March 2012. The Karnataka state-government appointed a committee to look into the Wakf Board land. The committee was headed by Anwar Manipaddy as chairman who is also the chairman of the Karnataka Minorities Commission. The committee, after completing its study, submitted a 7,000-page report to Chief Minister D Sadananda Gowda on Monday (26 March 2012). The report contains alleged scam running into more than $40 billion. Powerful politicians, several Wakf Board members, Wakf officials, middlemen and land mafia have been involved in the scam. The report is likely to be tabled in the Karnataka Assembly on 27 March 2012.
Out of the Wakf Board’s 54,000 acres of registered land, there has been misuse of about 22,000 to 27,000 acres. Most of the misuse (about 80%) has been in city areas rather than in rural areas.
The committee has recommended the government to set up a high-power committee to check corrupt activities in the Wakf Board and appoint a task force to retrieve land sold illegally to powerful and influential people.
