Atir Khan/New Delhi

Waqf Boards are one of the biggest custodians of habitable land in the country. After Defence and Railways, they rank third as far as possession of the land is concerned, controlling 8.7 lakh properties spread over an area of over 9.4 lakh acres.

Barring a few exceptions most of the boards are in a pitiable state suffering from mismanagement and rampant corruption. The Government has now moved a revised bill to amend the Waqf management system. The Waqf Amendment Bill 2024 has been referred to the Joint Parliamentary Committee.

Awaz-The Voice Editor-in-Chief Atir Khan spoke with Syed Mahmood Akhtar, a former Indian Revenue Service officer, who has done extensive work on this subject and was instrumental in drafting amendments to the Waqf Amendment Bill in 2013. Excerpts:

Could you kindly explain the concept behind Waqf?

The word Waqf originated from the Arabic word that means to hold, to possess. Now, what do you possess? You possess a particular endowment, either in the shape of land or in the shape of books or in the shape of some donations for the charitable purpose of carrying out welfare activities of the communities, for orphans, widows, education, underprivileged students, education, maintaining graveyards, and mosques.

The waqf system existed since the medieval period but it was codified during the British era in India. Then it was enacted through an act of Parliament in 1954, further it was amended in 1995 and 2013. The act made the provision that Wakif- the person who donates makes his will, it has to be honoUred and the persons who are to be benefitted by this particular act of charity have to be delineated in the will.

As per Islam, the owner of the property is Allah; the people who manage it have to be the custodians, they can take advantage of the will, and can even rent it out, but they cannot sell the land.

So, what is the mechanism under which the boards operate? What is the system?

So, the boards control Waqf. Their coordinating authority is the Central Waqf Council, which forms the backbone; it falls under the purview of the Ministry of Minority Affairs.

It issues certain circulars periodically, it as an intermediary, and is a sort of coordinating office between the state wealth boards and the Union ministry.

The Waqf boards are constituted by the state government and they consist of a chairman, a president, a vice president, and a chief executive officer, who is the functional authority of the board members, drawn from various cadres.

Mutawalli- has to be a theologian. He has to know Sharia and Islamic law. In the 2013 Bill draft, we made provisions for the ladies’ representation and chartered accountants to be a part of the boards as well.

We also recommended that the CEO should be of a reasonable seniority and he should be at least of the level of an additional district magistrate or so.

There were some fascinating initial debates when the Waqf Amendment Bill 2024 was moved in the Parliament. The revised bill has a provision that the role of survey commissioners be given to district collectors. How will things change now?

Well, let me take you back to 2013 when we were in the ministry we had decided we had issued orders, and we had advised the Central Waqf Council to let the boards carry out the service. There has to be a service commissioner because they will help create records, and then it will be recorded with the board, and a copy will be marked to the Council.

And the state government will be informed that the survey commissioner has identified the properties. The records were to be digitally computerized. The entire Waqf land, which is a huge land, I think one-third or something of the country's land, if my memory serves me right. But then the records were missing. Many of the records are still missing, many of the properties are encroached upon, and many of them have been sold out illegally.

Many of the properties have even been mortgaged for a very petty amount. As per the present amendments the district magistrate will have the power to coordinate the activities and finalise the records. That is alright.

But I have a small point to make here. The DM or the deputy commissioner is a busy person. I am not sure whether he or she will be able to devote much time to this activity so there should be a provision under which he can depute a particular officer to look into the affairs.

In 2013 at the time of drafting the bill, you had traveled extensively across the length and breadth of the country to study the system, What were your observations?

Yes, I had to visit at least 18 places across the country. We took the joint parliamentary committee along. We had different experiences, I don't want to name the states in northern India, that had a terrible performance of maintaining records. There was rampant corruption. We could smell it, we could sense it.

And then we traveled to the central part of the country. They were slightly better. We had the chief ministers inviting us to the office to let us know what exactly had transpired in the year. The states down south, like Kerala and Tamil Nadu, were much better organized. They had proper records and provided the necessary details. They had survey records to a great extent. The southern part is much better organized so far as management is concerned.

There is heavy litigation of Waqf properties and more than 12,000 cases are pending with the work tribunals. As per the revised bill aggrieved parties could now also approach courts. Do you think it'll help people get justice on time?

Well, it is a double-edged sword. The tribunals were constituted. I still very clearly remember that the 2013 amendment laid a strong emphasis on the creation and the strengthening of the tribunals. Now, so much time has passed between 2013 and now it is 2024. If the Tribunals have not been able to deliver, I think the failure lies on the boards. They should have immediately taken decisions on the complaints of encroachments by the affected people or by the concerned authorities. Now, of course, the judicial debate in the country cannot wait. The courts have to intervene.

Now, the new bill has provisions for women's representation on the boards. How do you see this move?

Well, it started in our time in 2013. We had tried to ensure in the amendments that at least two women who are from different walks of life, can take care of the women's issues. And of course, the issues of widow maintenance, which is a very sensitive subject could be handled by these members if there was a provision for them in the boards. So, if the 2024 amendment talks about the lady members, it's a welcome gesture.

Now, the revised bill aims to the introduction of digital technology for bringing transparency. What else can be done to bring about financial transparency in the system?

Well, I think the move to provide digital transparency and to involve digital and computerization of records is a long, drawn cry. We have tried to emphasize it in the Ministry of Minority Affairs. In the absence of proper digital records corruption grows.

The fact remains, how do you manage the Waqf properties? I think to my mind with my background in the minority affairs ministry, it is a pure administrative measure and the government is well within its right to go ahead with proper management, keeping in mind that the faith of the community is intact absolutely.

There is a new provision for hiring full-time CEOs for the boards. We have seen such arrangements are also there for the management of Hindu shrines. Will this provision improve the functioning of boards now?

Yes, it is, but let us keep in mind, that these CEOs should be a person of the faith of the community. It should be because the CEO is practically the person who takes forward all the implementation activities and many a time, he accosts serious religious beliefs. He comes across religious issues like fencing of graveyards, and giving donations to orphans.

So, if it is a person who understands these necessary practices it is desirable, but the person should also possess sufficient administrative experience at a very senior level that we have already recommended in our 2013 amendments. And a full-time CEO is the need of the hour. There cannot be two views about it.

Some of the Waqf boards such as the one in Kerala have performed well. What are the learnings from there?

Yes, very interesting question because I had a fascinating experience when we took the parliamentary committee to that place and the honorable members of Parliament were very impressed.

They saw the workings of these firsthand, the CEO the president and the vice president were very technically and administratively sound people. They were engineers, they were chartered accountants, they were company secretaries, who were manning the board quite well.

The problem of encroachments was practically nil. The revenue was absolutely in order. Corruption was nil. So, we can follow the best practices from there, women were participating in the functioning of the board.

Since you've already worked on drafting  the bill earlier what would be your suggestions? A joint parliamentary committee will deliberate upon the revised bill now.

We have to ensure that all the stakeholders are taken on board. Let me give you an example. When I toured the country and went to different states to go about, we had a non-Muslim Hindu Shiv Sena MP who was guiding us and who was a member of the committee, and he went to the greatest extent to make us comfortable and to ensure that our functioning was as per the tenets of the law.

So,I think involving people of other faiths in the process was already there. But when the execution of the work on behalf of the CEO happens,then the sentiments of the people should be kept in mind.

It's a tightrope walk between administrative and management ability and keeping in mind the religious sentiments of the community. The balance is important for ensuring the smooth functioning.

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I'm sure the honorable members of Parliament, and the lawmakers will a keep an eye on it and they will work effectively on this matter.