State Waqf minister Mohammed Arif Naseem Khan on Monday said in the state Legislative Assembly that the government is now considering a CBI investigation into the Waqf land that was given to industrialist Mukesh Ambani for his house at Peddar Road.
“The sale of land by Karimbhai Ibrahimbhai Khoja Orphanage (KIKO) to Mukesh Ambani’s Antilla Commercial Private Limited is a transaction between a charitable trust and a private company. Whether a case can be registered in the same or not will be decided by the law and judiciary and home department,” said Mr Khan.
Answering a star question raised by Leader of the Opposition Ekanath Khadse, BJP MLA Girish Bapat and others, the minister said that it was correct that the plot of land at Malabar Hill was in possession of KIKO, a charitable trust that was dedicated to the education of children of the Khoja Muslim community. “The trust had sold the land to the company in July 2002 for `21.5 crores. On August 28, 2002, the Charity Commission on August 28, 2002 gave its sanction to the transaction,” said the minister.
He, however, added that since the property belonged to the Waqf Board of Maharashtra, the permission of the state board was mandatory, which was not taken.
“Since no permission was sought, the Waqf board served a showcause notice to the Antilla company on April 22, 2004, asking as to why the Waqf board land had been taken possession of by them. After the notice was served to the company — the trust, KIKO —paid `16 lakhs towards the arrears of trust fee. The board accepted the money and on March 23, 2005 withdrew the notice,” said Mr Khan.
In the starred question, the MLAs had questioned of it was true that the land on which Mr Ambani had built the `500 crores palace was sold to him for a paltry `21 crores and if yes then demanded a reason for it. The MLAs also asked if it was true that the Central government has asked the state to file a case with the CBI and investigate the transaction.