Board accuses Vijay Mallya of selling waqf land in UP

The Shia Central Waqf Board in Uttar Pradesh has accused the police in Meerut district of allowing business tycoon Vijay Mallya to sell of a waqf property before leaving the country.

The board has also complained to UP governor against the Meerut SSP for not taking action against Mr Mallya. The board had already acted against Mallya-owned United Spirits Limited under Section 52 of the Waqf Act, 1995, that restricts sale and purchase of waqf land as a punishable offence.

The brewery and distillery had been functional on 10 bighas of “Waqf Syed Mohammad” in Abdullahpur area in Meerut since 2002, in violation of the Waqf Act.

Board chairman Waseem Rizvi said Mr Mallya had sold off the Waqf land to SABMiller India Ltd, before the high court could pass a stay order on any such third-party transactions.

The Shia Central Waqf Board has also initiated legal action against SABMiller India Ltd for purchasing waqf land illegally. Mr Rizvi said, “We asked the SSP of Meerut to file an FIR against Mr Mallya twice after the land on which the brewery was functional was found out to be registered under Waqf in 1918. But he had clearly refused to do so and so the Board has now sent a written complaint against the SSP to governor Ram Naik and to chief secretary, UP government.”

Mr Rizvi said that if the police had acted in time, the sale of waqf property could have been prevented.

According to him, Mr Mallya also misguided the court and sold off the property which cannot be sold to anyone, to another company. SABMiller India Ltd, along with United Spirits Ltd, have been taken under the legal purview.

Even though the property had been registered under Waqf board, it was given on a 50-year lease to a chemical factory on April 20, 1937. However, in 2002, the people who had been running the chemical factory sold the land to Mallya-owned United Spirits Ltd (USL) illegally.

It was due to familial infighting that the complaint had not been lodged until last year when a new caretaker took charge and came to know about the entire affair in July 2015.

It is illegal to sell or purchase Waqf property and is a punishable offence under section 51 of the Waqf Act, 1995.