Waqf Amendment Bill 2024: Key Changes and Criticisms
Why in the news
A Waqf Amendment Bill was brought before Parliament to tighten the working of Waqf boards, which can currently label property as Waqf without strict checks. The Bill drew both support and strong objections.
Key facts
- Bill: Waqf Amendment Bill, 2024, amending the Waqf Act, 1995.
- Main aim: curb the unchecked powers of Waqf boards in declaring property as Waqf.
- Around 40 amendments require verification of all property claims made by the boards.
- Sections 9 and 14 to be changed so that boards have women members.
- District magistrates may oversee verification, to settle disputes and prevent misuse.
- Example cited: a Tamil Nadu Waqf Board claim over the largely Hindu village of Thiruchendurai in September 2022.
Criticisms
- Boards would lose power over their properties.
- May hurt the interests of Muslim communities that depend on Waqf assets; Articles 29 and 30 protect minority rights.
- More bureaucratic and government interference, seen as harming religious autonomy.
- Verification and magistrate involvement could trigger fresh conflicts.
About Waqf
- A Waqf is a permanent donation of movable or immovable property for religious, pious or charitable use under Muslim law.
- Income funds schools, mosques, graveyards and shelter homes.
- A mutawali manages Waqf property. Trusts under the Indian Trusts Act 1882 are not perpetual, whereas Waqfs are meant to be.
- Waqf boards are legal entities that can own, hold and transfer property and can sue or be sued.
- Waqf Act was enacted in 1954, replaced in 1995 with more powers for boards; a 2013 amendment further strengthened their power to declare Waqf property.
- Central Waqf Council (CWC): set up in 1964 to supervise state-level Waqf boards.
Exam angle
- Constitutional provisions linked to minority rights: Articles 29 and 30.
- Acts to remember: Waqf Act 1995 and the 2013 amendment; Indian Trusts Act 1882 for comparison.
- Terms: Waqf, mutawali, Waqf Board, CWC.