The bill that will radically change how waqf properties are managed has passed the parliament’s test. However, the sharp divisions on show during the well-argued debate, while showing how parliament should ideally function, underlined the highly contentious nature of its provisions. The bill was introduced to amend the Waqf Act of 1995 with the stated objective of improving the administration of waqf properties and ensuring transparency. While the opposition described the bill as being against minority rights and religious freedom, the NDA sought to present it as beneficial to the Muslim community. The bill mainly revisits three provisions of the existing law: composition of waqf boards, criterions for forming a waqf, and the power of boards to claim waqf properties.
India has an estimated 8.7 lakh immovable waqf properties spanning 9.4 lakh acres. Several committees have flagged issues in their management, including unrealised revenues, misuse, encroachment and lack of maintenance. About 7 percent of these properties are said to be encroached, 2 percent are under litigation, and the status of 50 percent is unknown. Reforming the way these properties are managed was inevitable. But, while the new law attempts to address loopholes, it also raises new concerns. A modification was also in the interest of equity, as the existing law armed waqf boards with sweeping powers to claim properties and lent an unquestionable finality to waqf tribunals’ decisions in this regard. The bill does away with Section 40, which empowered boards to decide if a property is waqf, and provides for challenging the tribunal’s order in a high court within 90 days.
Concerns have been raised over doing away with the ‘waqf by user’ clause, the provision that says only a person practising Islam for at least five years can declare a waqf, and the inclusion of non-Muslims in waqf boards. There is also fear that the bill gives the government indirect control over waqf properties. Over the years, the scope of laws governing waqf has expanded through several parliament-approved changes, with the last amendment coming in 2013. And so, parliament’s authority to make laws on waqf cannot be questioned. But the government has a duty to address the concerns and get the nuances of messaging right. As it prepares for the imminent legal battles, the government must show patience to convince the community how the new law would ensure better management of waqf properties.