EXPLAINED – Reality of Waqf Boards | Modi’s Big Reform or Land-grab? | Akash Banerjee & Adwaith
Third largest landowner of the country, an institution that neither the government nor the court can touch. An institution that looks at your land and says that it is the land of Waqf, then you will not be able to do anything, this land will be taken away from you We keep hearing all kinds of things about the Waqf Board, especially on social media the state within the state, which can give any land in the name of Allah and whose answer is not towards any government or any organization of the country. And now the news is coming that the Modi government is going to amend the Waqf law, so that the Waqf boards' misbehavior can be controlled to some extent. During the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha, on 8th August, BJP's Minority Affairs Minister Kiran Rijiju introduced the Waqf Amendment Bill 2024.
On the same day, this bill was referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee. On 22nd August, the first meeting of this Joint Parliamentary Committee was also held See, if the government wants, it can work so fast. the bill will be passed, often you won't even know when the government has done it If the Waqf Bill is passed, then many important changes will happen in the Waqf Act of 1995. And the name of the Act will change. Now it will be United Waqf Management Empowerment Efficiency and Development Act Meaning, Umeed. The name itself is a master stroke. By the way, Modi government is renowned for name changing But is this act going to be a game changer? What is this Waqf and waqf board? Why there are issues with Waqf board? Does BJP want to solve the problems of Waqf Board by bringing an amendment bill? Or is there another agenda? In today's video, we will try to understand this complicated issue in a simple way. But before understanding this, you have to do the work wholly. [subscribe and press the bell icon] What is Waqf in theory? Let's understand that.
If a person wants to use his accumulated property for charitable work, for religious purpose Then they can Waqf that property under Islamic law When that is done, the property ownership is dedicated to Allah, transferred to Allah permanently Person who has dedicated his property, his ownership or the ownership of his family is also terminated in many cases Almost in all Islamic traditions, the person who is a Waqif, cannot have any interest in the Waqf property. This property is not used for private gain. It can be used for God or religious gain. The property of the Waqf is managed by a Mutavalli, a manager. This Mutavalli can neither alter the purpose of the Waqf nor can it sell the property of the Waqf. This is an important point. The Waqf of Islamic law is similar to that of the English trust law However, there are some differences. Trust can also be dissolved You must know the term "trust fund kid" Broadly, there are three types of Waqf Public Waqf, i.e.
Waqf property purely used for public welfare. Quasi Public Waqf, i.e. one part for public welfare ad another for family Third is Private Waqf. According to this, Waqf property can be used for the welfare of a person's family. But when the family line, i.e. succession, ends, then the entire property will be used for public or charitable purposes. These broad contours have been a tradition for more than 1000 years. Legal scholar Faizan Mustafa has made a lot of deep dive episodes and videos on Waqf and Waqf laws I will also share some links below He also gives an interesting example how a famous traveler Ibn Battuta wrote in his journal how in Damascus of Syria in 1327 – think how old is the tradition – in 1327 AD a waqf was made that if in the hotel of the city, porcelain dishes were broken by waiter, which were very expensive then not from the salary of the waiter but by the wealth of the waqf property And the porcelain will be replaced. So, an intention is a noble intention.
But often, there is a big difference between theory and practice. Something is started with a good intention but in practice it becomes corrupt. Charitable people start doing their charitable work. Let's talk about this problem which is the basis of politics In India, the practice of Waqf has been going on for many years In 1913, Muslim Waqf Validating Act was made. How to govern Waqf Who will be its controlling stakeholders? In 1923, Muslim Waqf Act.
After Independence, in 1954 – Central waqf act replaced by the Waqf Act in 1995, which is ongoing, and talks of amendment are underway Today, there are 32 Waqf boards in India. In every state there is waqf board of their own Shia and Sunni boards are different. Their job is to manage waqf properties, and to earn money from the land of the Waqf and use that money for charitable purposes. Along with this, there is a central Waqf council at a national level. the Waqf Board is India's third largest landowner. So, the fact that you keep hearing on social media is actually a fact. After the railways and armed forces, it is their number The total land ownership is 9.4 lakh acres. 8.7 lakh immovable properties are in name of Waqf Most of them are cemeteries, mosques, shops and agricultural land.
The third largest landowner in the country. How can such an institution have a problem with money? And this is where the biggest irony and failure of the Waqf Board comes in that it is sitting on bankruptcy In 2006, the Sachar Committee report was released It was a govt report in which the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community has been analyzed in great detail. This report has a whole chapter on the Waqf Board. The most striking fact is that if all the properties of the Waqf Board were properly utilized, the total possible income of the Waqf properties would have been 12,000 crores But at the time of releasing the report, the actual income of the Waqf Board was only 163 crores. 12,000 crore vs 163 crore – How can it be so big a failure? The committee has given different reasons for this. First, the managers of the committee do less management and more corruption. Many of them operate the waqf property as their private property. Instead of charitable purpose, they open a shop or give it on rent And it seems that this is happening with the Waqf Board Many times, this manager has taken a bribe and given a lot of land, even prime land, on rent at a very low rate It has been seen many times that people from state Waqf Board are corrupt themselves and then they exploit this land with corrupt managers.
The concept of Waqf for charitable purpose is not realized This is also a big problem that the Waqf Board has not been able to fix it yet So there is a problem but the solution has not been found yet. But along with this point, the Sachar report has also shown another big problem, showing a holistic perspective And this point may seem a little counterintuitive, but why the waqf board is unable to bring money this is a big reason. The Sachar report says that there is another big problem in waqf properties, of encroachment In many cases, private players and government agencies have taken over waqf land. This process shows that you should either take over the land directly And even if you pay rent, you should pay at such rates that it doesn't make sense Waqf has lot of property, no doubt, but a cemetery in some village Somewhere a farm land, so making money from all land is difficult And in the cities, the properties in the prime locations, either it is grabbed or rent at old prices So, somewhere, there is a problem that has not been sorted out.
That is, if there were honest people in power in waqf board, they would face corruption or prime properties in litigation But, somewhere, this is also a failure. If the land could have been vacated in an aggressive manner, if the rents could have been renewed in an aggressive manner, then a lot of money could have been generated for community welfare Now, if Waqf system is still corrupt and encroachment is still there then why is Waqf Board not supporting the amendment bill? Is Waqf Board afraid of government control? trying to take over the land? Or is it that the government has some other agenda? In 2022, a local in Tamil Nadu tried to sell some of his land. The local authorities told that he will have to take a no objection certificate from the Tamil Nadu Waqf Board Because the land is actually under the Waf Board.
Not just land, the whole village was under the Waqf Board It is obvious that the locals were shocked by this Till date, no one had told them that their land was waqf land They protested and the matter reached the court. The court gave its verdict that no one can claim a land as waqf This example shows how in some cases the waqf used its power to seize land In such cases, there is a lot of discussion on social media due to which this image is formed that there is a Waqf Board a body which is not under the supervision of the government nor courts can do anything Basically, it is a state within the state and operates under the system of its own law, under Islamic law.
So, can the Waqf Board seize someone's land, yours and mine? First of all, only you can waqf your property That means you cannot claim anyone's property as waqf But, but, there is an allegation, and it was included in Section 40 of the Waqf Act 1995. This section says that if a state's waqf board thinks that a property is theirs, then they can take initiative and collect information from the public, conduct survey to find out if the property belongs to waqf But it is not easy to prove the waqf identity of the property. Under Section 4 of waqf act, 1995 the land can be examined by the survey commissioner, to find out objectives of waqf has the power to ask for a document to prove the ownership of the land.
Legal scholars say that it is difficult to do so because you can give the land verbally under Islamic law. often there are no written documents or signatures. So how will you prove the property is of Waqf or not? On top of that, according to Section 14 of Waqf Act 1995, the members of the State Waqf Board, almost all the members are nominated from the state. Now understand this, the State Waqf Board, in that, the government people are nominated. These boards are basically run by the government. The survey commissioner is nominated by the government. This image that there is no role of government, no oversight, state within state – that is wrong All the members of the central Waqf council are nominated by the government.
This allegation is also that the Waqf works within the state. It is running Sharia law in country Perception is that waqf laws are Islamic laws, no relation to Indian constitution This is slightly wrong, because according to legal scholars Waqf is the most codified Muslim law Waqf works according to law made by the parliament Waqf runs according to nominated officers of government Misconception is that waqf board is not accountable to courts They can take decision on their own, cannot be taken to court When there is dispute, then a tribunal is established as per the act Tribunal is a quasi-legal body with the same powers as a civil court. In India, there are many tribunals like Income Tax Tribunal, Rent Control Tribunal, National Green Tribunal etc. The waqf tribunal members are nominees of the government. A state judicial service member, a state civil services member, and a person is there who understands the Muslim law and jurisprudence There is no restriction on the government to nominate only a Muslim The government can nominate a Hindu or a Parsi as well, whoever is well versed with Muslim law The High Court can take suo moto cognizance on Tribunal's decision And if it feels that the Tribunal has taken a wrong decision, it can be changed and challenged.
The High Court can reverse the decision of the Tribunal. So judicial oversight is there. Family Waqf is not treated as a charitable entity by Indian law Neither you get a tax exemption nor a relief from capital gains tax, stamp duty or inheritance tax. So this is not a loophole if you are working even under family waqf So tax oversight, government oversight, judicial oversight, codified act, despite this, the legitimate complaints about waqf should be addressed and solved And to find a solution, we should focus on the real problems.
Now BJP says that this bill will solve the core problems of corruption, inefficiency and encroachment. Is that so? This amendment focuses on different aspects of the Waqf Act. There are some positive points as well. For example, the amendment says that two Muslim women will have to be compulsory in the Central Waqf Council This was also mentioned in the Sachar committee report. So, I don't think anyone should have any problem in implementing this. If they do, they should check their mental health. Similarly, two non-Muslim members should be present in the Central Waqf Council. There was no restriction on non-Muslim members before. Yes, there was a question on representation The opposition has a view that if the government wants to have one nation, one law, no religious representation, then it should apply on Hindu temple boards. Because in many temple boards non Hindus are not eligible Modi government has talked of removal of Section 40 Remember, this is the section where the Waqf Board can enquire about the ownership of a property. Some people say that the Tamil Nadu example case will not happen if this section is removed Some people say that ultimately, the nominated people of Govt are working The survey commissioners are also government employees.
So how can you say that this was the cause of wrong deeds? But people are worried that BJP is using this amendment to give power to the collector. The survey commissioner's job is now the collector's. The collector will decide which property is of Waqf If there are disputes related to property, and there are many cases in which Govt has encroached Sachar report also mentioned it, so now will collector decide who gets the property? The power given to the tribunal and surveyor has been diluted. Basically, a government officer is responsible for dispute resolution. Will a government collector take a decision against the government if the dispute is between the government and the Waqf? This amendment is even more dangerous when we look at the process of digital registration. Digital registration is a must. Sachar report said this so many years ago.
If the bill is passed in accordance with the amendment, then the waqf properties must be registered within 6 months. If they are not registered within 6 months, then they will not be considered as waqf properties and no case can be filed This means that judicial review is being excluded. We all know that in India, not just rural but even in urban areas, digital registration of properties is not possible in 6 months. If there is a pressure or a missing document, registration is impossible. Is this the design of this amendment? This is the masterstroke of the government. Many leaders have spoken about this, including Owaisi That this digitization is effectively a land grab. And you are imposing a collector's rule on it, which will not take a decision against the government. The Sachar report showed a way forward from its side as well. Strengthen waqf board, give full-time judicial presiding officer to the Waqf Tribunal, define the encroachers immediately and to take action against them etc.
But the bill has not focused on all these. Kiren Rijiju has only taken a few parts of research of the Sachar Committee and used them selectively On the other hand, it is also true that why did the government get a chance to play politics in the case of Waqf? Because Waqf neither modernized itself in time nor monetized itself. The wealth of crores, 12,000 crores could have been easily made You were the third largest landowner but you are not able to help your community This is a tragedy.
Politics is being played on this tragedy. People are realizing that politics is being played on this tragedy. How much pushback will be there? How much pushback will be there? We will know in the next few months..
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