KOCHI: Kerala has registered 79,905 waqf properties on the Union government’s UMEED portal, emerging as one of the leading states in the country in digitising waqf assets. Kerala accounts for nearly 10% of the 7.99 lakh waqf properties uploaded nationwide and tops the southern states in the exercise, according to a written reply tabled in the Rajya Sabha by Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju to a question from Dr Bhim Singh.
The data as on July 21, 2026, places Kerala third in the country in terms of the total number of waqf properties registered on the portal, behind the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Waqf Board (1.53 lakh) and West Bengal (1.32 lakh). It has also surpassed several larger states, including Telangana (63,984), Karnataka (58,845), Gujarat (30,783), Rajasthan (32,335) and Madhya Pradesh (32,374).
Of the 79,905 properties submitted by the Kerala Waqf Board, 63,086 have been approved by the designated approver, while 7,979 are pending scrutiny by checkers and 17 are awaiting approval. Another 3,902 properties remain at the data-entry stage, while 4,921 entries have been rejected or returned for corrections.
7,99,027 waqf properties uploaded nationwide
The Centre launched the UMEED portal in June 2025 to create a unified digital database of Waqf properties across the country. The platform is intended to improve governance, bring transparency in property records and help prevent disputes and encroachments. Under the law, State Waqf Boards were initially given six months to upload records, although many sought additional time from Waqf Tribunals and High Courts to complete the exercise.
Kerala received a five-month extension in December 2025 and a further one-month extension in May 2026, enabling the state Waqf Board to continue uploading and verifying records.
Across the country, 7,99,027 waqf properties have been uploaded on the portal. Of these, 6,17,192 properties have been validated and approved, while 91,275 are pending at different stages of uploading and verification. Another 90,560 entries have been rejected during verification, reflecting the scale of scrutiny involved in building a nationwide digital inventory.
The digitisation exercise is expected to play a crucial role in tackling one of the biggest challenges facing Waqf administration — encroachments.
In another written reply to the Rajya Sabha, this time to a question by Prof Manoj Kumar Jha, Rijiju said 53,930 waqf properties across the country had already been uploaded on the UMEED portal as being under encroachment by private individuals or government agencies.
The minister said in the reply that the exact number of encroached properties, the revenue generated from waqf assets and the status of eviction proceedings could be determined only after the digitisation and validation exercise is completed. Under Section 54 of the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development Act, the chief executive officer of the state Waqf Board is empowered to initiate proceedings before the Waqf Tribunal for removal of encroachments after due inquiry.