SP legislator urges state Waqf board to conduct public hearings

Mumbai: SP MLA Rais Shaikh urges Maharashtra State Board of WAQF to conduct public hearings on Waqf properties, opposing closed-door sessions.

Mumbai: Rais Shaikh, Samajwadi Party legislator from Bhiwandi East, has opposed the closed-door hearings of Waqf institutions conducted by the Maharashtra State Board of WAQF (MSBW), urging them to conduct the hearings publicly.

Samajwadi Party MLA Rais Shaikh

In his letter to the Chairman of MSBW, Sameer Kazi, the SP MLA has said that there are 27,000 Waqf properties in the state and nearly 11,000 properties have been legalised. As per the Supreme Court verdict in 2022, the MSWB must conduct hearings related to the Waqf properties within six months.

At present, the board chairman is doing hearings for 184 institutions which are being held inside his chamber. “Waqf properties belong to the Muslim community and the community has a right to know about them. Therefore, public hearings should be held rather than holding them in the chairman’s chamber,’ Shaikh said.

The union government passed the Waqf Act in 1995, empowering the state Waqf Boards to declare Waqf properties. The Waqf Board, established in 2002 in the state, declared 11,000 Waqf properties till 2004. While upholding the Waqf Board’s decision about the 11,000 properties, the Apex court has also asked the MSBW to hear the respondents to determine if their properties are Waqf properties. As a result, the hearings for 184 waqf institutions are being conducted by the chairman of the board.

The Board owns 1 lakh acres of land in the state and around 70% of the land has been encroached.