A dispute that arose last year in connection with a Waqf property matter in Latur district suddenly brought home the seriousness of the issue as many people feared that their land or real estate could be declared as a Waqf property any time without their consent. This was against the backdrop of reports that an entire village in south India was declared as a Waqf property. Such news stories began surfacing from other parts also.
Now that the Rajya Sabha has passed the Waqf Amendment Bill on the heels of the Lok Sabha adopting it, its conversion into an Act is just a formality. However, had it not been there, the gravity of the issue would be much higher.
In the Latur matter, the Waqf Tribunal of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar issued notices to 103 farmers in Talegaon village in the district involving over 300 acres of farmland and more than a hundred farmers. They were contesting a claim before a tribunal that the land was Waqf property and that it was granted for a local dargah. The farmers claimed that the land had been in the possession of their families for more than three generations.
What will happen to this and such matters which are before the respective tribunals or the courts is a moot question. Inevitably, there will be legal wrangling. Still, it is obvious that the amended Act will give the government control over Waqf properties. Also, some people and political parties have questioned the state’s right to intercede in a religious matter as Waqf concerns only the Muslim community.
Maharashtra has over 92000 acres of land named as Waqf properties. Their worth is thousands of crore rupees. If developed systematically, these properties can generate handsome returns that can earn hundreds of crore rupees. Utilizing these proceeds can change the lives of the poor and downtrodden, as envisaged in the Waqf Act.
Maharashtra like all other states will have to now develop a Geographic Information System (GIS), which means mapping of Waqf properties to find out the actual location, area and ownership of these lands and identify encroachments on them. The GIS mapping of all waqf properties will align with the Union government’s plan to prepare a nationwide online database of Waqf properties. The Union ministry of minority affairs had launched the National WAMSI Project as an e-governance initiative for Waqf boards around the country. The initiative covered registration of Waqf estates and properties.
Maharashtra government statistics reveal that the state has around 93418 acres of Waqf land bank, spread over 23566 registered properties. Most of these land parcels are in Sambhaji Nagar division (57802 acres), followed by Pune (9310 acres), Nagpur (9260 acres), Nashik (8350 acres), Konkan (5941 acres) and Amravati (2755 acres) revenue dividions.
Surprisingly, most of these prime land parcels were found to be under encroachment. Official records of these lands are in a pathetic condition. Hence, the actual extent of Waqf properties and lands is considered to be much more. In 2018, a pilot project undertaken by the state government detected over 1700 new waqf properties in just two districts, Pune and Parbhani. When the last waqf survey was conducted in 2002, Parbhani and Pune had 1189 and 153 properties, respectively. However, the pilot project implemented by the Settlement Commissioner and the Directorate of Land Records detected 1465 new properties in Pune and 273 in Parbhani. This included properties not identified in previous surveys and those donated through fresh Waqf deeds. A task force under the Principal Secretary (Revenue) had pointed out that around 70 per cent of these lands, most of the prime properties, were under illegal occupation or transferred. This project, therefore, has clearly established that a scientific survey can bring many astonishing details. So far, at least, no detailed survey has been conducted to ascertain the exact extent of encroachment of Waqf properties.
The Maharashtra Waqf Board was set up in January 2002, in accordance with the Waqf Act, 1995. Its first task was to study the findings of a government survey of waqf properties. Based on this survey, the Board published two lists of waqf properties in the state, in November 2003 and December 2004, respectively. Soon after the Board was formed, the Charity Commissioner issued a circular saying that waqf properties registered under the Bombay Public Trusts Act 1950, and administered by the Charity Commissioner, would henceforth be exempt from its purview, and would be considered to have been registered under the 1995 Waqf Act.
This was challenged in the Bombay high court by the Anjuman-I-Islam, challenging this circular as well as the formation of the State Waqf Board. Several more petitions, making similar submissions, followed. The high court stayed the Charity Commissioner’s circular. In 2011, the court ruled in favour of the petitioners, holding the Board’s formation illegal. The state and the State Waqf Board rushed to the Supreme Court which in October 2022, upheld the constitution of the Board as well as the validity of both the 2003 and 2004 lists of waqf properties. It ordered that those aggrieved by the lists apply to the Board if they wanted their properties to be declared as non-wakf. Thus, a number of properties registered under the Charity Commissioner’s office before 1995 began seeking exemption from the tag of waqf properties.
What happens to their matters will have to be seen after passage of the Waqf Amendment Act.
Many activists belonging to the Waqf Liaison Forum have alleged a lack of transparency in the Board’s working and decision making. The Board had not been updating details of its working, they say.
They demand that its hearings should be made public. If the Supreme Court and Parliament proceedings can be televised, why not the Board’s hearings, they ask. Transparency will curb any underhand activities, they feel. The least the Board can do is announce the schedule of these hearings, some suggest. Making these hearings public would dispel widespread apprehensions of deal making in private, they feel.
How effectively the new Waqf Act will be able to handle such sensitive matters will become clear only after it is promulgated. All said and done, it will open a new chapter in India’s forward march.
A Column By
Dilip Chaware – Senior Editor
A media professional for 43 years, with extensive experience of writing on
a variety of subjects; he is also a documentary producer and book author.
