BJP State President Annamalai has said that we have no doubt that the Waqf Board Amendment brought today will be beneficial for all the people of the Muslim community, but the Tamil Nadu BJP fully welcomes this amendment.
In a statement issued by Annamalai in this regard,
The Waqf Board Amendment Bill was tabled in Parliament today. Union Minister for Minority Affairs Kiran Rijiju gave a detailed reply to the questions raised by the opposition parties regarding the amendment.
First, in the Waqf Board Act amendment, no changes were made to the provisions on freedom of religious organizations in Articles 25 to 30 of the Act. The minister categorically said that no clause of our constitution has been violated.
The Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case involving Brahmachari and Government of West Bengal has made it clear that the Waqf Board has no place under Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution of India. This amendment is not to take away the rights of anyone, but to give rights to those who do not have the right. In this, this bill has been brought for the benefit of women, children, Muslims who are backward in the Islamic society and have not been given any opportunity so far.
This non-legislative Parliament and the Government of India have jurisdiction as the matter is in the Public List under Entry Nos. 10 and 28 of the General List of the Constitution.
The Waqf Board Amendment Bill was not introduced in this House for the first time. For the first time after independence, this Act was introduced in 1954. Since then the law has been amended several times. The Waqf Board Amendment Act of 1995 was amended in 2013 and all the hopes of the people who thought that the Waqf Board would benefit from the Waqf Board’s amendment were turned upside down.
That is why, today, the Central Government led by our Honorable Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi has brought this amendment.
This amendment has been brought to complete what the Congress party could not do. During the Congress rule, the Waqbu Inquiry Report was submitted in 1976. In it, all the waqb boards have gone into the hands of Mutawalis. Proper steps should be taken to regulate it.
As many cases are coming up regarding waqb, a commission system should be set up. Audit and accounts are not proper in Waqf Boards. Three main recommendations were made to formalize it. They remain unfulfilled.
After that, two groups should be mentioned, both of which were formed during the Congress regime. First, a High Level Panel headed by Justice Rajinder Sachar was constituted on 9th March, 2005. This committee was formed for the welfare of Muslims.
The Sachar Committee’s report said that the 4.9 lakh registered waqb properties generate an annual income of just Rs 163 crore. This cannot be justified. It was said that if this is properly systematized and assets are managed according to market value, Rs 12,000 crore will be available at that time. But, the income was only Rs.163 crores.
The value of the total 8,72,320 Waqf Board properties available on the WAMSI (Waqf Management System of India) platform is many times higher than the value stated by the Sachar Committee. In the Sachar Report, the existing Waqf Board should be expanded. It was suggested that the number of people in the Waqf Board should be increased.
Also, 2 women suggested that the Central Waqf Board Forum should be in the State Waqf Board Forums. A person qualified as a Joint Secretary to the Government of India should be appointed as the Secretary of the Central Waqf Board, and in the State Wakf Boards there should be a Class 1 – Officer. It was also suggested that women and children should be given importance.
All the recommendations of the Sachar Committee are contained in the amendment tabled today. But what could be the opposition to this by parties like Congress and DMK other than political reasons?
The second committee was the Parliamentary Joint Committee headed by Mr. Rahman Khan, who was Union Minister for Minority Affairs and Deputy Speaker of the Rajya Sabha during the Congress regime. Members of the BJP were also there. The infrastructure of the committee and waqb board is not proper. There is a shortage of people. The board is incompetent. Funds are scarce. Not properly upgraded. Said that the Waqf Board should not be conducted like this.
The panel also commented on Muthavallis. It was said that the Waqf Board’s entire focus is on who to appoint and who to remove as Muthavalli, so that authority should be removed. Waqf Board related documents are not managed properly. Was also told to fix it. It recommended re-examination of existing Waqf Board properties in the country.
Experts and lawyers should be brought in to take correct decisions on matters under the jurisdiction of the Waqf Board. It was recommended that the entire Waqf Board should be computerized.
All these are included in this amendment.
Over the years, those on the Waqf Board would either discuss the cases that came to them through the forum and either adjourn them, or decide them in their own style. You can’t go to court against it. In a democracy, in a great nation like India, such a practice has continued for years.
According to the amendment brought today, the existing Law of Limitation is removed. According to the previous law, the Law of Limitation would have been applicable to lands that had not been claimed for many years, if something had happened in the intervening period or if nothing had been done for many years. But if someone comes and says that our forefathers worshiped on this land, for that one word, the entire land was declared as waqb property. Section 108 of the Evacuee Property Act 1950 is amended by this amendment.
In the last one year alone, 194 complaints about illegal Waqf Board property transfer have come online. As many as 93 cases have come up against Waqb Board administrators. An additional 279 complaints were also reported. Boras, Ahmadiyyas, Akhani Muslims are few in number and their needs are neglected.
Before bringing this amendment, various sections of the Muslim community and women representatives were consulted by the Chairman and CEO of Waqf Boards in 19 States & Union Territories.
Thiruchenthurai village is located in Tiruchirappalli district. There is a 1500 year old Sundareswarar Temple located there. When a villager went to sell his 1.5 acre land, he was informed that his village was a Waqf Board land. The history of the village is 1500 years old. But they have declared the entire village as Wakpu property. They have claimed that the entire property owned by Surat Municipal Corporation belongs to the Waqf Board.
How is this possible? How land owned by municipal corporation becomes property of a private body? A 2012 report by the Karnataka Minorities Commission said the Karnataka Wakpu Board had converted 29,000 acres of land into commercial land. Waqf Board land should be used for religious and charitable activities. The 2013 amendment to declare waqb by anyone has been changed today.
District Collectors are responsible for supervising the income documents. Collectors are entrusted with the responsibility of inspecting all Waqf properties and making decisions.
12,792 cases are pending in Waqf Boards. 19,207 cases are pending in Tribunals and Commissions. Therefore, cases should be registered and filed within 90 days. An amendment has been brought that the solution should be provided within 6 months.
To bring transparency in the Waqf Board, the amendment will be carried out with the help of technical assistance.
Representation of women in Central and State Waqf Boards will be brought. Representation will be given to all communities in Islam.
Administratively competent officers will be appointed to run the Waqbu Boards well, and a Member of Parliament from the state where the Waqbu Board is located will be included in this governing body.
Deprivation of property due to poor Muslim women and children will be prevented.
We have no doubt that the Waqf Board Amendment brought today will be beneficial for all the people of the Islamic community. Therefore, Tamil Nadu BJP fully welcomes the amendment brought today.
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