Waqf bill: Why many Muslims in India are opposing an amendment in a property law

A proposal to amend a decades-old legislation that governs properties price tens of millions of {dollars} donated by Indian Muslims over centuries has triggered protests within the nation.

The properties, which embrace mosques, madrassas, shelter properties and hundreds of acres of land, are known as waqf and are managed by a board.

The new invoice – which introduces greater than 40 amendments to the present legislation – was anticipated to be tabled within the present parliament session after incorporating modifications urged by a joint committee of MPs.

But the committee is now set to ask for extra time to submit its suggestions.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s authorities says that the proposed modifications are essential to root out corruption within the administration of those properties and deal with calls for for reform from the Muslim group.

But a number of Muslim teams and opposition events have known as the modifications politically motivated and an try by Modi’s Hindu nationalist get together to weaken the rights of minorities.

The invoice was first launched in parliament in August however then despatched to a joint parliamentary committee for his or her suggestions.

In Islamic custom, a waqf is a charitable or non secular donation made by Muslims for the advantage of the group. Such properties can’t be offered or used for every other objective – which means that waqf properties belong to God.

An unlimited variety of these properties are used for mosques, madrassas, graveyards and orphanages, and plenty of others are vacant or have been encroached upon.

The custom of waqf in India might be traced again to the Delhi Sultanate interval within the twelfth Century when the early Muslim rulers from Central Asia got here to India.

The properties are actually ruled by the Waqf Act, 1995, which mandated the formation of state-level boards. These boards embrace nominees from the state authorities, Muslim lawmakers, members of the state bar council, Islamic students and managers of waqf properties.

The authorities says that the waqf boards are amongst India’s largest landholders. There are no less than 872,351 waqf properties throughout India, spanning greater than 940,000 acres, with an estimated value of 1.2 trillion rupees ($14.22bn; £11.26bn).

Muslim teams agree that corruption is a critical challenge in waqf boards – its members have been accused a number of instances of colluding with encroachers to promote waqf land.

But critics additionally say {that a} important variety of these properties have been encroached by people, companies and authorities our bodies – which too requires instant consideration.

A report submitted in 2006 by the Justice Sachar Committee – fashioned by the sooner Congress party-led authorities to evaluate the socioeconomic circumstances of Muslims in India – had beneficial waqf reform, because it discovered that the revenues from the boards had been low in comparison with the huge variety of properties they managed.

The committee estimated that environment friendly use of the land had the potential to generate an annual income of about 120bn rupees (1.4bn; £1.1bn). The present annual income, in response to some estimates, is round 2bn rupees.

The committee additionally famous that “encroachments by the State, who is the custodian of the Wakf interests, is common”, listing lots of of cases of such “unauthorised occupation” of waqf land by authorities authorities.

According to government data, no less than 58,889 of waqf properties are presently encroached upon, whereas greater than 13,000 are beneath litigation. The standing of greater than 435,000 properties stays unknown.

The amendments, the federal government says, deal with these points and advance the suggestions made by the Sachar Committee.

Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju told The Times of India newspaper that the reforms had been additionally needed as solely an elite part within the Muslim group managed these properties.

But many Muslims see the proposed modifications with scepticism.

One of probably the most contentious features of the invoice is the change to possession guidelines, which might impression historic mosques, dargahs and graveyards owned by the board.

Many of those properties – in use by Muslims for generations – lack formal documentation as they had been donated orally or with out authorized information a long time or centuries in the past.

The 1954 Waqf Act recognised such properties beneath the class of “waqf by user”, however the proposed legislation omits the supply, leaving the destiny of a major variety of these properties unsure.

Professor Mujibur Rehman, writer of Shikwa-e-Hind: The Political Future of Indian Muslims, explains that tracing the possession of such long-standing group properties is sophisticated, as their administration and deed methods have shifted over the centuries from the Mughal system to the British colonial system, and now to the present system.

“You can trace personal properties up to a few generations, but tracing community properties is more difficult, as their management keeps changing over time,” Prof Rehman says.

Critics declare that the modifications might not deal with the group’s issues however may as an alternative significantly take away the position of Muslims in controlling waqf properties.

Some agree {that a} normal legislation mandating folks of all religions to be part of boards that run non secular establishments would make processes extra secular.

But the present transfer seems to favour majoritarian politics, Prof Rehman says. “There seems to be an attempt not only to get the state’s control over Muslims’ properties, but also of Hindu community over Muslim community’s lives.”

Among different essential modifications is the obligatory requirement for boards to register their properties with district collectors, who would suggest to the federal government whether or not the waqf’s declare to a property is legitimate.

Critics say it will undermine the powers of the waqf boards.

Asaduddin Owaisi, a distinguished Muslim MP vocal on the difficulty, alleges that these modifications are supposed to strip Muslims of their land.

The present legislation requires state governments to nominate a survey commissioner who identifies waqf properties, and subsequently prepares a listing. The record is then despatched to the state authorities which points a legally mandated notification. If unchallenged for a 12 months, the ultimate nature of the property turns into waqf.

But a few of the modifications would imply that the standing of a number of waqf properties must be re-established.

“Many have illegally encroached upon waqfs. This means they will get a chance to claim that the property is theirs,” Owaisi recently told reporters.

This process, Muslim groups say, will put many historical dargahs and masjids at risk. They say that reform is needed but it must keep the sensitivity and interests of the community in mind.

“The diagnosis may be correct,” Prof Rehman says, “but the treatment is not.”