NEW DELHI: Terming the Supreme Court order that suspended certain provisions of the Waqf (Amendment) Act as a substantial victory, the Congress Rajya Sabha MP and aex-JPC member, Syed Naseer Hussain, saying that the court stayed contentious provisions such as thepowers of revenue officers to keep Waqf properties in limbo.
“It hasreaffirmed that property disputes must be decided judicially, not administratively. This was one of our core concerns in Parliament,” he said.
On the court’s stay on the clause requiring a person to be a practising Muslim for five years before dedicating property as Waqf till state governments frame rules, Hussain said, “By granting a stay to this provision until rules are made, the court hasensured that arbitrary discrimination cannot operate. We will remainvigilant on how rules are framed.”
The Supreme Court, however, has refused to stay the provision in the Waqf Act abolishing the concept of “Waqf by user”. Hussain said, “Our concern in Parliament was that if this was applied retrospectively,centuries-old waqf properties would be asked to produce documents thatsimply don’t exist. That would have opened the door to massivedispossession and litigation of waqf properties. The fight now is to ensurethat even prospectively, the law is not misused to target communities.”