Wakf chief who stood in way of Ambani’s dream home shunted out

Maharashtra State Wakf Board Chief Executive Officer A R Sheikh, who had gone to the Supreme Court over construction at a prime plot in Mumbai...

Maharashtra State Wakf Board Chief Executive Officer (CEO) A R Sheikh, who had gone to the Supreme Court over construction at a prime plot in Mumbai on which Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani is building his 27-floor skyscraper, has been transferred out.

Sheikh said he had received the orders dated May 3, terminating his deputation to the Wakf Board. “I have been asked to hand over charge and report back to my parent department (the Rural Development Department),” he said, refusing to comment on whether the transfer was prompted by his plea in the Supreme Court.

Sheikh pointed out that the transfer orders were “apparently defective” as, though he was part of the newly created Minority Welfare Department (as the Wakf Board CEO), the orders shunting him out had been issued by the Revenue Department.

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“I am ready to comply with the orders.. But the (Wakf) board members are asking me not to hand over charge,” said Sheikh. The Wakf Board is the custodian of Wakf properties in Maharashtra.

Ambani’s Antilia Commercial Private Ltd had acquired 4,532 sq m of land on Altamont Road in South Mumbai from Currimbhoy Ebrahim Khoja Orphanage in a public auction for around Rs 21 crore in 2002. He is building a 27-storey skyscraper on the land.

Sheikh said on July 3, 2007, the state Government had asked the board to initiate action for “restoring the Wakf property”, on grounds that it had been “illegally sold by the trustees”. However, the Bombay HC stayed the action, and a plea was filed in the SC “as per the decision of the board”, asking for construction on the plot to be stayed or the HC stay to be lifted.

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