(Eds: Correcting in figures in para 7,8, minor changes)Lucknow, Oct 22 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh government ismulling forming a "UP Muslim Waqf board" by merging theSunni and Shia Waqf boards to prevent "wastage of money",Minister of State for Waqf Mohsin Raza has said.
He alleged that with corruption charges being levelled atboth the boards, the government was considering dissolve themsoon.
Though a final decision is still to be taken, theminister said the UP Muslif Waqf board, when constituted,would include members of both Sunni and Shia communities andits chairman would be selected from among them.
"The government has got a number of letters andsuggestions from various quarters regarding the merger ofthe Sunni and Shia Waqf boards. After the Law department'sreview of the proposal, the government will consider it andform the UP Muslim Waqf board," Raza told PTI.
He also said all states except UP and Bihar had only oneWaqf board.
According to Raza, it was not "legal" to have separateWaqf boards in the state.
Quoting the Waqf Act 1995, he said Shias or Sunnis shouldhave at least a 15 per cent share in the total Waqf units forthe constitution of separate boards, which he said was not thecase in UP where Shias accounted for only 5,000 units of thetotal 1,24,000 Waqf units.
"There should be at least a 15 per cent of share of Shiaor Sunni among total Waqf units. In UP there are 1,24,000 waqfunits, of which Shia waqf has only about 5,000 units, which isonly 4-5 per cent. Legally it should not be like this," hesaid.
The minister further said as per the Central Waqfcouncil, there were only 3,000 units of Shia Waqf Board. Therewas no point in having a separate Shia board, he said.
"Separate chairman, CEO and other staff incure heavyexpenses. It is a wastage of money," Mohsin Raza said.
Reacting to the development, Shia Waqf board ChairmanWaseem Rizvi said there was no provision to separate Sunni andShia boards which were constituted in 2015 for the the tenureof five years.
"There is no provision to dissolve the board. After thetenure ends, the government can inquire about the number ofWaqf units and their income to proceed further," Rizvi said.
Rizvi also alleged that the share of income of Shia Waqfboard was over 15 per cent of the total income.
However, Chairman of UP Sunni Waqf Board Zufar Farooquisaid they welcome the initiative of merging both the boardsinto one.
He, however, wondered why the state government waschanging a decision taken under the BJP rule in 1999 by thenChief Minister Kalyan Singh.
"In 1999, when the BJP was in power and Kalyan Singh wasthe Chief Minister he constituted separate Shia and Sunni Waqfboards. Question arises whether the present government doesnot endorse the previous BJP government's decision," Farooquiasked. PTI ABN MG DIP BDSDIP.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.