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The G R Bhattacharya Commission report, which unveiled a scam in Wakf property, has caught the ruling Left Front government in West Bengal off guard.
After five years of thorough research and examination of witnesses, the commission concluded that there were major irregularities in the Wakf Board during the regime of the Left Front.
The report says that Wakf properties in the state, worth millions of rupees, were given out on lease or rent to businessmen at meagre rates.
The report, made public this week six months after it was placed in the assembly, has specifically named former chairman of the Wakf Board Hamimul Huda as an accused.
Another former chairman of the board is also named, but no other person has been specifically accused of wrongdoing.
Incidentally, a few days before the report was tabled in the assembly, Huda was arrested on charges of questionable deals pertaining to Wakf property and this has found mention in Minorities Development Minister Mohammad Salim's Action Taken Report (in response to the findings of the G R Bhattacharya Commission's findings).
Since there are no proper records of the board's properties, it is difficult to gauge the extent of the scam, Salim said.
The opposition alleges that the scam involves approximately Rs 10 billion (Rs 1000 crore).
"How can they be so specific when the survey is still incomplete," asks Salim.
A statewise survey is in progress to evaluate the value of the property.
Almost forty per cent of the work on the survey is complete and the rest is to be completed by the year-end, he said.
However, critics believe the minister is under pressure from his party to go slow on the issue as many prominent leaders are said to be involved in the scam.
The Trinamool described Huda's arrest as an attempt by the ruling Left Front to protect its own members involved in the scandal.
Its leaders allege a nexus pointing out that Wakf Board chairmen were nominated by the state government.
"Besides Huda, the board also has Mehmoob Zahidi of the CPI-M as a member," pointed out Sultan Ahmed, general secretary of the Trinamool Congress.
The opposition is demanding a CBI inquiry.
Salim defends the Left Front saying the government has already implemented several recommendations of the commission.
Some of these are: 1) Wakf Board should have elected members and no member should be allowed to continue for two consecutive terms 2) A thorough survey of Wakf properties in the entire state 3) Tenders should be invited while renting out, selling or leasing out property, after proper evaluation of its value 4) Special tribunals to dispose of pending property cases 5) Criminal cases be lodged against those found guilty of irregularities.
Though the Trinamool Congress's preoccupation with the Eastern Railway bifurcation issue has come as a blessing for the ruling Left Front, the former is in no mood to let the issue taper off.
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