Hyderabad, July 9: Over 80,000 acres of Wakf properties, including land, are under encroachment at various places in Andhra Pradesh. Ironically, even the State government has allegedly encroached some of them and is fighting cases claiming ownership along with several other private individuals in the Andhra Pradesh High Court. K. Rahman Khan, chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee, which is on an inspection visit of Wakf property in the State, told mediapersons that bureaucrats and the government were responsible for the present state of land and other property belonging to the Andhra Pradesh State Wakf Board. "There are 35,700 Wakf institutions in Andhra Pradesh. Of a total of 1,45,511 acres of land belonging to board, 80,591 acres are under encroachment," Mr Khan said. "The board needs to be strengthened to protect its property. This can only happen when there is an elected body. At present, the board is functioning under a Chief Executive Officer. You call it a Wakf board only when there is an elected body," he added. The JPC chairman said the committee has asked the state government to conduct elections at the earliest. Elections have not been held to the board for the past four years, Referring to ongoing controversy over ownership of lands between the board and the revenue department at Manikonda Jagir and Visakhapatnam, Mr Khan said such cases could be solved amicably and early through the process of reconciliation between the two parties than in the courts of law. Mr Khan also criticised the board for not provide copies of the two reports submitted to the House Committees on the status of Wakf land in the State. To queries, the JPC members said they received a large number of representations with allegations that the board records were tampered with to allow sale of lands by the state government. On the proposed commissionerate to protect Wakf property, the JPC made it clear that commissionerate was not the solution. "The Wakf Act and the boards have to be strengthened. Even if a commissionerate is constituted, it will work under the purview of the board purview," he added.