Mumbai, July 7 (PTI): The Chairman of Maharashtra Wakf Board M A Aziz, embroiled in a controversy over the acquisition of land here for a residential complex by Mukesh Ambani-owned company Antilia, today said the state government has no jurisdiction to interfere in Wakf-run matters.

In his reply to the notice served on him by the state Revenue and Forest Department on July 3, Aziz alleged Wakf Minister Anees Ahmad was "out to exact personal ....because I exposed his role in a land deal in Nagpur".

He said he had sent the reply today and the government has no jurisdiction in Wakf matters which are to be decided only by Wakf tribunal.

The government had asked Aziz to reply within 15 days on charges levelled against him by the Qadri committee which probed alleged irregularities by the Board in the land deals, failing which he would be removed as Wakf Board Chairman.

The Wakf Board had yesterday issued a notice asking Antilia to explain within seven days why the plot should not be restored to the Board as it was acquired "in contravention of Wakf rules".

The move came two days after the state government termed the deal as "illegal" and directed the Wakf Board to "take back possession" of the property.

However, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh had said yesterday that "as far as I know, the Wakf Board had given a no-objection certificate (for five land deals, including that of Antilia)."

Ambani is building a 27-storey skyscraper on a 4,532 sq m plot in south Mumbai.

Sources in the know said Antilia had obtained a no-objection certificate for the deal from the Wakf Board in 2004 after paying it fees of Rs 16 lakh without prejudice to the Board's claim on the land.

The Maharashtra Wakf Board had issued a no-objection certificate for the deal for which it received a payment of Rs 16 lakh.

The disclosure of the receipt of this money by the Wakf Board for the Rs 21-crore land deal between Antilia and Currimbhoy Ebrahim Khoja Orphanage (a charitable trust) assumes significance in the context of the Board issuing the notice seeking the land back.

Sources in the Wakf Board confirmed that the body had received Rs 16 lakh as wakf fund for the deal. "The amount was received as per an amicable settlement between Antilia and the Wakf Baord," the source said.