New Delhi: The Union government is set to introduce in parliament The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 to further amend The Waqf Act, 1995.
The legislation is aimed at enhancing the efficiency of the administration and management of waqf properties and ensuring that the inheritance rights of women are not denied.
Crucially, the Bill omits section 40, which relates to the powers of waqf boards to decide if a property is a waqf property. It also makes the district collector the arbitrator in determining whether a government property is a waqf property.
Muslim bodies, including the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, have opposed the proposed legislation and said that with the Bill, the Union government wants to change the status and nature of Muslim waqf properties so that it becomes “easy to destroy the status of Muslim waqf by seizing them”.
A copy of the Bill accessed by The Wire states that the proposed legislation seeks to rename the 1995 Waqf Act as the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development Act, 1995; and clearly define “waqf” as waqf by any person practicing Islam for at least five years and having ownership of such property.
The proposed legislation inserts new sections 3A, 3B and 3C, which prescribe conditions for the creation of waqf and states that no person shall create a waqf unless he is the lawful owner of the property and competent to transfer or dedicate such property.
It also states that the creation of “waqf-alal–aulad shall not result in denial of inheritance rights of heirs, including women heirs, of the waqif”.
The Bill also requires that every waqf that is registered under the existing Act prior to the proposed legislation will have to file details on a central portal within six months of the commencement of the new Act.
In order to circumvent wrongful declaration of waqf land, the Bill states: “Any government property identified or declared as waqf property, before or after the commencement of this Act, shall not be deemed to be a waqf property.”
It adds that if there is a question as to whether a property is government property, it will be referred to the collector who will have the jurisdiction to determine “whether such property is a government property or not and submit his report to the state government”.
The Bill seeks to change the composition of the Central Waqf Council and the state waqf boards, and ensure the representation of Muslim women and non-Muslims. It also provides for the establishment of a separate ‘Board of Auqaf’ for Boharas and Aghakhanis.
Its statement of objects and reasons by Union minister Kiren Rijiju states that the 1995 Waqf Act “was enacted to provide for the better administration of auqaf and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto”.
“However, during the course of implementation of the Act, it is felt that the Act has not proved effective in improving the administration of auqaf.”
It further states that while amendments were made to the Act in 2013 based on the recommendations of the high-level committee under the chairmanship of Justice (Retired) Rajinder Sachar, the report of the joint parliamentary committee on waqf and the Central Waqf Council, as well as detailed consultation with other stakeholders, the Act still requires improvement.
“Despite the amendments, it has been observed that the Act still requires further improvement to effectively address issues related to the powers of the state waqf boards, registration and survey of waqf properties, removal of encroachments, including the definition of the “waqf” itself,” it states.
The proposed legislation has been opposed by the AIMPLB, which said in a statement on Sunday that any alterations in the Waqf Act will not be tolerated and appealed to the opposition and the NDA’s allies to reject any such move in parliament.
AIMPLB spokesperson S.Q.R. Ilyas said that the Waqf Act and Waqf properties are protected by the constitution and the Shariat Application, 1937. “Therefore the government cannot make any amendment that would alter and change the nature and status of these properties.”
He added that interference with the legal and judicial status and powers of waqf boards will not be tolerated.
Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind president Maulana Arshad Madani also opposed the proposed legislation in a statement and said that “the central government wants to change the status and nature of Muslim waqf properties. So that it becomes easy to destroy the status of Muslim Waqf by seizing them.”
“[The] Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind wants to make it clear that waqf properties are the donations done by Muslim elders which have been dedicated for religious and Muslim charitable works. The government has just made a waqf act to regulate them.
“Any change in the Waqf Act 2013 which changes the status and nature of Waqf properties or makes it easier for the government or any individual to misuse them is not acceptable. Similarly, we cannot accept any amendment of reducing or limiting the powers of waqf boards,” he said.
Former Delhi minorities commission chairman Zafarul-Islam Khan said that the government must initiate discussions with stakeholders before moving further.
The “new amendments not only attempt to usurp the powers of Islamic scholars to interpret the waqf laws, but also place the administration of waqfs in non-Muslim hands which a serious infringement on the powers and rights of religious communities to administer their endowments according to their religious laws,” he said.
However, the All India Sufi Sajjadanashin Council has welcomed the amendments. The council’s chairman Hazrat Syed Naseruddin Chisty said he was confident that the draft of the Bill would be transparent and that no one should have any objection to it.
