Reject the Amendments to Waqf Act

The Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024, now assigned to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for scrutiny, is an exercise in futility.

The bill has sought to rename the current Act as the Unified Waqf Management, empowerment, Efficiency and Development Act, 1995. Except for sincere implementation, the 1995 Act did neither suffer from any flaws nor inadequacy.

The 44 amendments moved by the Narendra Modi-led coalition government will only centralise the powers of the Waqf Boards—29 in total in states and Union territories—and are aimed at shifting away control and authority from State Government to the Centre.

This is yet another attempt to dilute the federal spirit of the Constitution and deprive the Muslim community of any right to exercise control over management of the waqfs, the properties dedicated for charitable and pious purposes.

The bill proposes to shift the authority to declare a property as waqf from the Waqf Tribunal, a quasi-judicial body, to Deputy Commissioners or Collectors, as the case may be in various states.

The proposal is patently ill-intentioned as Waqf Tribunal’s fiats were heretofore taken as final. The collectors or deputy commissioners have umpteen other duties and assignments and are least expected to apply their administrative skills to an assignment that calls for judicial expertise.

Induction of two non-Muslims in a Waqf Councils and Boards contravenes the Constitutional rights of minorities to administer and run the institution. While it is appreciable that two women members too would be inducted into these bodies, it does not specify if they would be from the Muslim community.

The ambiguity would leave the choice open for the government of the day to induct women who may be from communities other than Muslim.

The Bill eliminates the provision of ‘Waqf by use”. It has been traditionally recognised that mosques, dargahs, imambaras, serais (inns) and other properties meant for religious purposes are recognised as such from antiquity as they came up during times when there existed no legislation and no departments to bestow legality over them.

Their use since they came to exist establishes their legality and should remain the legal tender. The widespread opposition to the Bill from constituents of the INDIA bloc has stalled its passage.

It seems the pressure from major coalition partners viz, Telugu Desam Party and Janata Dal United has forced the hands of the BJP-led NDA to entrust the scrutiny of the bill to the 30-member JPC. It will be in the fitness of the things for the committee to reject the bill lock, stock and barrel and restrain the NDA from tampering with the 1995 Act.