CUTTACK: Delay in disbursal of maintenance among the eligible divorcees by the Wakf Board has once again led the Muslim women to hit the streets demanding action against the authorities for dereliction of duty. More than 200 women under the Talaki Mahila Sahayata Samiti on Thursday staged a dharna at the Collectorate and submitted a memorandum for Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik seeking his intervention into the matter and ensure speedy disbursal of the maintenance amount to the beneficiaries. The State Government has made a budgetary allocation of Rs. 44.35 lakh towards payment of maintenance to the eligible divorcee Muslim women for 2011-12. As many as 546 women have gained decrees from the court and are deemed eligible for provisioning of the maintenance of Rs. 400 a month. However, despite a lapse of more than six months, the Orissa Board of Wakf has not taken any step for disbursal of the maintenance amount. The Board authority has now taken a stand of reviewing the status of the women in spite of the fact that their condition and divorce status have been deemed valid by the court of the SDJM for each and every woman,” they alleged. “The women are leading lives virtually as destitutes with no support system for them. After a long fight and orders of the Orissa High Court, the Government had been moved to allocate funds for provisioning of maintenance under Muslim Women Protection Rights on Divorce Act, 1986. But the Administrator of the Wakf Board has withheld the disbursal till now with foul intentions,” TMSS president Saira Mirza said. They also demanded removal of the ad hoc administrator appointed by the Government to manage the Wakf after the tenure of the Board came to an end and constitution of full board at the earliest with 50 per cent women. “The Board had been dissolved after completion of its tenure in November last year and should have been reconstituted by May-end but nothing has been done on the front. We are asking for women’s representation in the Board so that it could be sensitive and compassionate to the problems and suffering of the women of the community,” Mirza said. It may be mentioned here that in April this year, the divorcee women had charged Osatullah and his son with manhandling and misbehaving with them at the Wakf office when they demanded disbursal of the maintenance amount to divorcees.
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