Hyderabad: The Telangana State Wakf Board is all set to renegotiate with tenants of the Aladdin Madina building in the next month or so. The board has formed a team of officials to conduct a survey and get as to many businesses are located in the huge building, which are paying paltry sums as rent since decades. Officials said that they will even evict tenants, as there is a High Court order on their side this time.
A senior Wakf Board official, who did not want to be quoted, said that the Telangana High Court in an order dating back to March had asked the department and fix rents at the Madina building based on realities, or essentially the current market situation. “Due to the COVID-19 situation it got delayed, as only one-third of our staff was on duty. The team will finish its survey in about 10 days, and after that we will contact tenants,” he added.
The official informed that the High Court has said that rent must be negotiated. “So if they don’t come forward and speak with us, then it is contempt of court. If we don’t do this, then we will be in contempt. Either way, we will speak to all of the tenants of the building, who are paying next to nothing in rent,” the Wakf board official added.
The Madina Building was constructed to support residents in Madina, a holy city for Muslims in Saudi Arabia. The rent derived from this commercial and residential building was distributed among the residents of the ‘Madina Munawara Hijaz’ during when Hyderabad was ruled by the Nizam. The Alladin family was a major contributor to the building.
There are around 200 shops and 100 flats in the structure, which is situated opposite the Shah Ghouse hotel. It is to be seen how the Wakf Board officials manage to renegotiate new rental agreements with the tenants. “The money we get from this can be used for the (Muslim) community,” the department official said. In the past, tenants often got stay orders from courts when the matter of increasing the rent came up.
