Board didn’t issue a notice during my tenure: Thangal

Kozhikode: Former chairman of Kerala State Waqf Board Panakkad Syed Rasheedali Shihab Thangal said that the board had not issued any notice to the residents of Munambam to vacate land during his tenure. Rasheedali Thangal said that it was the board headed by his successor and CPM leader TK Hamza, that had issued a notice to the residents.
Thangal said that it is possible to provide humanitarian consideration to the people living there by not asking them to vacate the land if the govt decides to do so.
"It was VS Achuthanandan's govt that appointed the Nissar committee in 2008 which submitted a report in 2009 and the state govt issued orders to retrieve the land. But it was not implemented. Meanwhile people living there approached the high court and the court directed the board to take back the land in 2016. The board did not act on it and when the court raised contempt of court, the board was forced to consider it but we did not issue any notice to people to vacate that land," he said.
Meanwhile, IUML national general secretary PK Kunhalikutty too targeted the then LDF govt by saying that Munambam land issue was created by VS Achuthanandan's govt which instituted the Nissar committee. "The issue began due to a decision taken by the VS govt and owing to the Nissar committee report. Now the issue is to overcome the recommendations of that report and we have told the govt that we are ready to cooperate," said Kunhalikutty.