Page 32 - EW October 2024

Expert Comment

Clearing Waqf corruption

& confusion

MOHAMMAD SAJJAD

ITH TABLING OF THE UNITED WAQF Against the backdrop of the Waqf
Management, Empowerment, Efficiency,
and Development (UMEED) Bill 2024, Management, Empowerment, Efficiency,
Win Parliament — since referred to a Joint and Development Bill 2024 having been
Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for further examination
— India’s 32 Waqf Boards have come under public scrutiny. referred to a JPC, the author proposes
They reportedly control 8.7 lakh properties spanning 9.4 ways and means to fortify it
lakh acres countrywide.
Linguistically, the word Waqf (tied-up or locked up),
also known as habs (locking, selling and purchase of assets University which is heavily dominated by certain cliques.
earmarked as charitable endowments), or mortmain Simultaneously, sections of India’s Muslim elites have
property, is an inalienable charitable endowment under also been misleading the by preventing initiatives to make
Islamic law. Typically, it involves donating real estate — necessary reforms from within. Therefore, some reforms
land and buildings — for Muslim religious or charitable need to be incorporated into the Bill.
purposes with no intention of reclaiming the donated assets. Establish a Waqf Tribunal. A tribunal with high court
It’s important to note that a large proportion of Waqf rank judges should be established for resolving Waqf cases,
property comprises graveyards (Qabristan) which with the Supreme Court as the appellate authority.
don’t yield any income. Some paltry (mostly oral and Enhanced land survey. A Land Survey Commission
unregistered) Waqf assets are owned by village/mohalla should be constituted with at least three officers to
mosques (which are maintained through meagre or no investigate Waqfs’ real estate.
incomes). These “assets” add to the corpus of Waqfs, but Mandatory gender and caste representation. The
don’t yield any income. This is a point the Sachar Report Waqf tribunal’s composition should be diversified with
(2006), which highlighted the poverty of India’s Muslim inclusion of women and lower castes.
minority, failed to note. However it revealed that, “There Digital transparency. The assets, deeds, and real
are more than 4.9 lakh registered Waqfs (with estates and estate records of India’s estimated 490,000 Waqfs should
assets) spread across the country but the current annual be digitised and made publicly accessible online for
income from these properties is only about Rs.163 crore, transparency. Also, their accounts should be audited by the
which amounts to a meagre 2.7 percent rate of return…. office of the Auditor and Accountant General.
The current… market value (income generated) from Waqf Promotion of charitable activities. The Bill should
properties can be put at Rs.1.2 lakh crore.” mandate that income of all Waqfs is used mainly for
Misgivings about the Waqf Bill 2024. The proposed establishing modern educational, research and healthcare
Bill challenges exclusive Muslim composition of the Waqf institutions and for financial assistance to EWS.
Boards as mandated by the Waqf Act 1995. It proposes to Strict penalties for mismanagement. Strict penalties
abolish the power of (provincial/state government) Waqf for those who usurp, encroach upon or mismanage Waqf
Boards to issue notices or hold enquiry into the ownership properties, should be prescribed, including imprisonment.
of property that it believes belongs to a Waqf. Another Memorialisation of Waqf donors. Waqf creators and
misgiving is that the mutawallis (managers/administrators) donors (Waaqif) should be remembered and honoured
are obliged to transfer their power to District Collectors. in a befitting manner. They should be honoured with
Moreover, the proposed Bill doesn’t address the concerns contributions digitised and made available to the public.
recorded in the Sachar Report; nor does this Bill propose Defined roles for mutawallis. The roles of mutawallis
mandatory digital transparency by displaying all estates (Waqf administrators) should be clearly defined, with
and assets of Waqfs on their websites. Another anomaly tenures fixed at 3-5 years. Eligibility criteria should be
is that it doesn’t insist upon annual auditing of the established for their appointment.
income-expenditure of Waqf Boards. Similar legislation Accountability mechanisms. A robust checks and
for governance of Hindu mutths (with large estates) and balances mechanism should be implemented to supervise
mahanths (who practically own and manage the mutths) the functioning of mutawallis and the Waqf boards.
has not been enacted. The Waqf Bill 2024, therefore, is If the JPC scrutinising the Waqf Bill 2024 debates
discriminatory against Muslim institutions. these proposals to streamline the Waqf affairs and develop
Overall, mistrust between the Indian state and its the human resource of the minority Muslim community,
Muslim community persists almost perpetually. India’s Muslim resistance to the Bill will surely abate.
Muslims have all along been doggedly resisting state
interference in reforming Muslim personal laws, and (Mohammad Sajjad is Professor, modern and contemporary Indian history,
reforming the governance structure of the Aligarh Muslim Aligarh Muslim University)

32 EDUCATIONWORLD OCTOBER 2024