WAQF: Muslims wary as community land meant for charitable purposes gets excessive focus; anxious about Waqf amendment bill
Akraumul Jabbar Khan
The Asian Tribune
I n a country where such a large section of population lives in poverty & people lack resources for education of their children and even family members’ treatment, the wastage of resources is a cardinal sin.
Waqf properties that are spread over around 6 lakh acres land and possibly more [on account of non registration of many more ‘auqaaf’ (plural of waqf) with the Waqf board] represent a valuable asset that can generate revenue and help in uplift of the community.
This doesn’t happen to a large extent, and in fact, assets are wasted, due to apathy, mismanagement, lack of intent on part of leaders and ignorance about the issue among public at large, more so, the real stake holder i.e. the poor and the downtrodden.
Waqf is to protect this donated land for community’s uplift & prevent transfer or change of status of the asset so that it could benefit the community. The intention of the waaqif, the person is important.
After earmarking & assigning, saving the property [properties], and maintaining, developing it in a way that its earning is used as per the waaqif’s wish .
Generally the auqaaf are ‘fi sabilillah’ [for God] and aimed at welfare of poor, orhphan, widow, health infra and educational purposes or for religious and different other uses.
But if we look around, we find that the mutawallis (managers) and even Waqf boards [created as the authorized caretaker] treating valuable and vast properties as their personal properties to do as they will (not will). This sorry state of affairs is on account of the public ignorance of such properties as regards financial benefits to how the rentals, the income otherwise accruing from such properties is being utilized?
It is often pleaded that the tenants occupying properties on meagre rent do not pay even that much. Besides, the legal provision for eviction, there is a way to make such properties commercially viable and profitable.
The small houses, shops, left over land can be built upon, adding floors, using stilts to which the defaulting tenant can hardly raise an objection. Consider this possibility for areas like Nanapeth, Pune. Huge landed properties lie vacant in cities and rural areas though well connected by roads.
Govt had come up with Waqf properties development council but for want of knowledge, will and lack of human resources, virtually nothing happened. To see the neglect, the misuse, visit wamsi[dot]nic [dot]in.
Locate your state, district, taluka, village & search the current status of the properties. No trust can be registered without the specifics like area, yet majority of the properties show area as 00.000 and even for a Waqf property as stupendous as a thousand acres, value is shown as nil. Besides the intended beneficiaries, properties are illegally sold too. Community youth must know about Waqf issues and act.
[The author is a retired IRS officer. Photo is for representational purpose]
