Who actually advantages from the Waqf (Modification) Invoice?
The Waqf (Modification) Invoice, 2024 is ostensibly an try and cope with alleged corrupt practices of the nation’s Waqf Boards, however a detailed studying reveals a number of problematic provisions which will destroy waqf administration, and make it virtually inconceivable to reclaim waqf properties the place there’s authorities encroachment.
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A false and motivated narrative has been created that the Waqf Board can merely declare any property as waqf. Nothing may be farther from the reality. Waqf properties are all non-public properties devoted to charity.
The amendments have some constructive options. Part 3A says solely a lawful proprietor can create waqf. That is precisely what Islam additionally mandates. Part 3(r)(iv) has inserted the phrases ‘upkeep of widows, divorced girls and orphans’, which is sweet, however these functions have been already coated by the expression ‘welfare and different such functions recognised by Muslim legislation’.
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Though the Waqf Acts of 1954 and 1995 permitted solely Muslims to create auqaf, the 2013 modification eliminated this unjustified restriction. The 2024 Invoice has revived the sooner restriction by deleting Part 104 and making it extra stringent by insisting that solely an individual who has been a Muslim for 5 years can create a waqf. This violates the possession rights of non-Muslims, as they’re free to do what they need with their properties.
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Abolition of ‘waqf by consumer’
The brand new Invoice proposes to abolish ‘waqf by consumer’. This provision goes towards even the Babri Masjid judgment in M. Siddiq (2019), which categorically recognised the idea of waqf by consumer when the court docket noticed that “our jurisprudence recognises the precept of waqf by consumer even absent an specific deed of dedication or declaration. Whether or not or not properties are waqf property by lengthy use is a matter of proof.”
Most aged graveyards are waqf by consumer and should not have waqf deeds. The idea of ‘immemorial consumer’ is recognised beneath British frequent legislation and beneath Hindu endowment legal guidelines. Waqf by consumer was allowed by the Waqf Act of Bengal, 1934 and Bihar, 1947, by the Uttar Pradesh Muslim Waqfs Act, 1960, and by the (Central) Waqf Act of 1954.
Waqf tribunals have been needlessly weakened. It’s not clear why the federal government has such mistrust of tribunals when all tribunal members are appointed by it. […] A bogey was intentionally created concerning the absolute finality of a waqf tribunal’s choices.
