Centre set to bring bill to curb waqf board powers on assets

Parliament

The Union government may bring a bill soon in Parliament seeking several amendments in the Wakf Act, including a check on sweeping powers of the Waqf boards to declare any land as its own property, reported TOI.

The bill is likely to propose around 40 amendments in the Wakf Act. The bill was approved by the Union Cabinet on Friday, according to sources quoted by the publication.

The Waqf Act, 1954 was predicated on the management of waqf; i.e. holding certain property and preserving it for the confined benefit of certain philanthropy and prohibiting any use or disposition of it outside that specific objective and had sought itself to be a measure towards public welfare and as a benevolent institution.

Due to these powers, the Waqf Boards is now the third largest owner of land after the Indian Armed Forces and the Railways and their share of land has doubled since 2009. The enabling provisions enshrined in section 40 of the Waqf Act, 1995 gives powers to the Board to acquire, issue notices or hold an enquiry into the ownership of the property that it has reasons to believe belongs to the Waqf. The board is allowed to conduct an independent
enquiry into the matter and arrive at a conclusion regarding the ownership of the contended
property.

The Wakf Act, 1995, was enacted to regulate 'Auqaf' (assets donated and notified as Waqf) by a wakif - the person who dedicates a property for any purpose recognised by the Muslim law as pious, religious or charitable. Amendments were also made to the act in 2013 to address several shortcomings.

Waqf Board has simultaneously been afforded with unbridled power in terms of registering any property, no other trust, mutths, akharas or a society is conferred with even remotely parallel autonomy in their affairs.

The major amendments proposed by the draft legislation include restructuring of Waqf boards, changing the composition of boards and ensuring verification of the land before the board announces it as the property of Waqf.

The bill proposes to amend Section 9 and Section 14 of the Wakf Act to change the composition of Central Waqf Council and state Waqf boards, to ensure representation for women in the bodies.

In June 2023, the Delhi High Court has issued a notice to the Centre over 123 properties in the national capital that are being unlawfully claimed as Waqf properties.