Tamil Nadu Waqf Board claims ownership of entire Hindu village, including temple land

Villagers in Tamil Nadu’s Thiruchendurai were in for a surprise after they learned that their entire village has been declared as property of the state Waqf Board.

The matter came to light on Tuesday after a villager tried to sell his agricultural land to finance his daughter's marriage. Rajagopal was told that his 1.2-acre land belongs to the Tamil Nadu Waqf Board and if he wanted to sell it, he must get a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the board.

The sub-registrar's office also showed him a 20-page letter from the Tamil Nadu Waqf Board, claiming ownership of the property. Baffled by this information about his own land, Rajagopal went through his property papers but could not find any such claims.

An official informed that all the land of Thiruchendurai village belongs to the Waqf Board and if anyone wants to sell off the land, they will have to secure a NOC from the board in Chennai.

Waqf Board owns thousands of acres of property across TN

It also came to light that the waqf board owns thousands of acres of property throughout the state, particularly 18 villages with a majority Muslim population.

However, the villagers did not find any truth in the claim and lined up outside the district administration’s office against the transfer of ownership.

"There is no data about Muslims owning any property in the village. Even the documents indicate that resettlement of properties took place in 1927-1928. There is a 1500-year-old Sundareswarar temple that holds 369 acres of property, that obviously cannot belong to the Muslims and there are necessary documents available to prove this," said Danapal, the former panchayat president of the village.

Rajagopal said he had been unable to carry out farming on his land and had incurred heavy losses, due to which he decided to sell it off. The man said he had properly registered the land while buying it in 1992.

However, a 20-page letter sent to 12 registration offices in Trichy by the Waqf Board, claims ownership of lands in several districts.

Land belongs to Waqf Board; residents living illegally: Chairman

When asked about the ownership of the village land, Tamil Nadu Waqf Board Chairman Abdul Rahman said, "These properties have been registered under several Waqf institutions. The board usually lets people use the land as charity. However, there have been encroachments in different places. In order to stop the transactions, the Tamil Nadu Waqf board has officially given all survey numbers to the sub-registrar offices."

Rahman said most of the private transactions have been completely stopped, while there are issues in some villages like in Thiruchendurai in the Trichy district. "Many locals are residing in properties which belong to Waqf. They cannot do any transaction. There are 389 acres of land there that belongs to us. We have furnished all the details and they are available in the archives department of the government."

He claimed that villagers were making statements to invoke communal issues, while Waqf properties are dedicated to people’s welfare. "The religious angle is very unfortunate," said the Chairman.