Registered with Government of India under Indian Trusts Act. Also registered under:
(a) Sections 12 A & 80 G of Income-tax Act and
(b) Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.
Central Waqf Council needs to be
strengthened and activated
Dr. Syed Zafar Mahmood
President, Zakat Foundation of India
zakatindia.org
The Haryana State Waqf Board has
submitted to the district administration a list of 19 Waqf properties in
Gurgaon where Namaz is not offered for the reason that either the local
residents object to offering Namaz there or they have even illegally
encroached the Waqf property. Conversely, a couple of weeks ago the
members of Sangh Parivar protested against offering Friday Namaz on
unused roadsides in Gurgaon; whereafter the State Waqf Board has come
forward with this plea.
Need to promote equality and fraternity
2. The Haryana Chief Minister has said that if some persons have
objection on offering prayer on roadsides then this matter must be given
a serious consideration. That is fully understandable, but the Waqf
properties solely belong to Muslims, they may offer their prayers there
and if someone creates trouble against offering Namaz at these
properties then the Chief Minister must simultaneously take action
against those who create such disturbance. The Waqf Board has also said
that if, for facilitating Namaz, it is needed to carry out construction
on these properties then the Board is ready even for that.
3. On the other hand, the Government of Haryana has acquired two acres
of land of Waqf Board in Chauma Village of Palam Vihar. The High Court
has ordered the State Government to provide alternate land to the Waqf
Board; that’s yet to be done. Also, Namaz is not offered in the mosques
of Vazirabad, Daulatpur, Nasirabad, Dhankot, Meoka and Garhi Harsawar as
the local safronites have objection thereto. Additionally, such elements
have been creating hindrance in the construction of mosques on the Waqf
Board land in Jharsa, Fazilpur, Naurangpur and Meoka.
Remove encroachments from Waqf properties
4. The Justice Sachar Committee Report has listed those Wakf properties
which are the mosques and tombs but are in the control of the
Archeological Survey of India that does not allow Namaz there whereas
such a ban is against the law. The purpose of giving a heritage property
in the custody of ASI is that it protects and preserves the property,
but the level of the ASI’s characteristic neglect is to be seen to be
believed. Such Wakf properties under ASI’s control are widely encroached
and these mosques and tombs are atrociously desecrated.
Periodical joint meetings of ASI and CWC
5. As per the Justice Sachar Report, the implementation of the Ancient
Monuments and Archeological Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act, 1958 has
often been at cross purposes with the Waqf Act. There are innumerable
cases where a Waqf property, despite being a place of worship or
otherwise deserving religious reverence, cannot be touched by the Waqf
Board because it is declared as a ‘protected monument’. Given the
pathetic state of large number of such Waqf properties under the control
of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI), it would only be proper if
their lists are annually reviewed and their condition is assessed in a
joint meeting of senior officers of the ASI with the representatives of
the Central Wakf Council. The minutes should be signed by both the
parties, copies should be preserved by both of them as well as the
ministries concerned.
6. The purpose of this Sachar recommendation was that those Waqf
properties which the ASI cannot handle well should be given back under
the control of the Waqf Board concerned. After the submission of the
Sachar Report two or three such did occur during 2007-08 but no
substantial discussion is reflected from the minutes and thereafter the
meetings were discontinued.
Raise the CWC Secretary’s rank to Joint Secretary to Govt of India
7. In this regard it is important to
note that due to the non implementation of another vital recommendation
of Sachar Committee the Waqf management has been suffering adversity.
Para-4.1 on page-29 of the Report reads: “The Secretary of the Central
Wakf Council should be an officer of the rank of at least Joint
Secretary to Government of India so that meaningful and effective
communication and interaction with government authorities is
facilitated. In order to be effective, this officer must have a good
knowledge of Wakf matters, Muslim scriptures and proficiency in Urdu.”
8. Here it is imperative to understand that there is a chain of Civil
Services in the country and at every level more than 90% of the
country’s governance is handled by these high ranking officers. If one
Muslim officer of this bureaucracy is appointed as the Secretary of Wakf
Council then the Central and State governments as well as district
collectors will naturally hold him in high esteem, preempting inequity
and dissipating impediments. Otherwise, the CWC Secretary (currently
with no defined status in the Government hierarchy) does not command a
level playing field vis a vis either the central and provincial
ministries/departments/agencies or the district administration.
9. On the other hand, according to the UP provincial law, four Principal
Secretaries, Director of Cultural Affairs, Divisional Commissioner of
Varanasi and District Magistrate jointly manage the Kashi Vishwanath
Temple. If any of them is not Hindu s/he would be replaced by the next
in command. For the Hindu religions institutions of Karnataka all the
responsibility rests with a specially appointed Commissioner who, under
section 3 & 7 of the provincial statute, must be an IAS officer
professing Hindu faith.
10. Under sections 3 & 4 of the related law of Andhra Pradesh only that
person can be the Commissioner who has served as a District Collector
and is Hindu. Under section of 9 & 10 of the Tamil Nadu statute the
officer concerned must have served as member of higher judiciary and
should be Hindu. Under section 8(c) of the law in Kerala only that Hindu
can be the Commissioner of Malabar Devaswam Board whose rank is not less
than a Joint Secretary in the State Government.
11. Similarly, if the rank of the Secretary of the Central Waqf Council
would have been raised to be at least Joint Secretary to the Government
of India, then the impugned meetings with the Archeological Survey of
India would not have been discontinued and in each meeting the CWC would
have had the upper hand, the minutes of those meetings would have been
written at higher governmental level of the Council and the latter would
have made it sure that the decisions so taken are implemented in letter
and spirit. On the same pattern the remaining Waqf work in the whole
country would also be better monitored. The Minister for Minority
Affairs would do well to give his kind attention in this regard.
Appoint Working Chairman of CWC - Give him MoS rank
12. Besides, the Chairman of the Central Wakf Council is, ex officio,
the minister himself and obviously he does not have eight hours daily to
look after the CWC work. Therefore, if he appoints one senior member of
the Council (as per the Sachar Committee a former high court judge is
preferable) as the full time Working President of CWC and he is given
MoS rank, then the Waqf management in India would get streamlined.
Community’s Role
13. Simultaneously, the community would have to be proactive; it should
persevere to restore the control to the Waqf Board in respect of those
Waqf properties (a) whose upkeep is neglected by the ASI and (b) other
umpteen properties under different kinds of encroachment. In Karnataka a
selfless civil contractor has got freed dozens of hitherto encroached
Waqf properties and Namaz has been re-started there.
Central Government should vacate Delhi Waqf land
14. In Delhi, on 25 February 2017, the Land & Development Officer of the
Union Ministry of Urban Development has allotted 2.33 acres (two plots)
of Waqf land adjacent to the CGO complex to the Home Ministry for an
amount of Rs 49,06,000 and handed over possession on 22 March 2017 for
the construction of the offices, barracks, canteen and parking for the
Central Reserve Police Force. The allotment order envisages that the
CRPF will fight the ongoing civil case no. 397 of 2011 - Sri Habibur
Rahman versus Union of India regarding the mosque and graves originally
embedded in that plot. The allotment order also stipulates that another
piece of adjoining land can be allotted to CRPF for which it will have
to submit separate application.
15. Thereafter, on 29 July 2017 the Delhi Waqf Board submitted a
complaint to the SHO, Nizamuddin Police Station informing that the above
mentioned plots of land are notified in the Delhi Government Gazette dt
31 December 1970 as Graveyard and Lal Masjid under Khasrah No. 360 and
361. It also complained that some government officers are trying to
trespass the impugned Waqf property and they should be stopped. Copy of
this complaint was endorsed to the Sub Divisional Magistrate, Defence
Colony, Purani Gargi College Building, Lajpat Nagar IV and to the Deputy
Police Commissioner, Sarita Vihar. The people of Delhi must get this
land freed from illegal encroachment by the Government.