AHMEDABAD: Gujarat has made significant progress in digitising Waqf properties under the Union Government's UMEED (Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development) Portal.
However, the State's verification process continues to face hurdles, with thousands of properties yet to receive final approval.
An analysis of two Rajya Sabha replies tabled by the Ministry of Minority Affairs reveals that Gujarat has 30,783 Waqf properties entered into the UMEED portal as of July 21, 2026, making it one of the States with the largest digital Waqf records in the country.
Of these, 24,508 properties have been approved, while 2,845 properties are still at the Maker stage, 103 are pending before the Checker, and 15 await approval by the Approver, indicating that 2,963 properties remain under different stages of verification.
In addition, 3,312 properties have already been rejected during scrutiny and sent back for correction, reflecting the scale of documentation and verification challenges.
Nationally, the UMEED portal has recorded 7,99,027 Waqf properties, of which 6,17,192 have been validated, 91,275 remain pending, and 90,560 have been rejected during verification.
The digitisation exercise began after the Centre launched the UMEED Central Portal on June 6, 2025, to create a nationwide digital database of all Waqf properties, register new Waqfs and improve governance and transparency.
The data also highlights the magnitude of encroachment issues across the country. According to information uploaded by State Waqf Boards, 53,930 Waqf properties nationwide have been reported as encroached.
However, the Ministry clarified that the figure could change as verification and uploading continue, and therefore the final number of encroachments and revenue from Waqf properties cannot yet be determined.
Although Gujarat-specific encroachment data has not been disclosed in the replies, the Ministry said the removal of encroachments is the responsibility of the Chief Executive Officer of the respective State Waqf Board.
Under Section 54 of the UMEED Act, 1995, the CEO can approach the Waqf Tribunal, which can order eviction after hearing all parties.
The replies further show that Gujarat was among several States that were granted additional time by the Waqf Tribunal to complete uploading of property records.
Gujarat received an extension from December 6, 2025, to June 5, 2026, reflecting the complexity of digitising thousands of legacy land records.
The overall data suggests that while Gujarat has made substantial progress in bringing Waqf properties onto the national digital platform, the exercise is still a work in progress.
Thousands of properties continue to move through different verification stages, and the absence of state-wise encroachment and revenue figures means the complete picture of Gujarat's Waqf assets will emerge only after the digitisation process is fully completed.
