A total of 994 Waqf properties have been reported as alienated — or illegally encroached upon — across the country, with Tamil Nadu alone accounting for a maximum of 734 such properties, the Union government informed Parliament on Monday.
In a written response to a set of questions from Communist Party of India (Marxist) lawmaker John Brittas, the ministry of minority affairs also informed that the country has 872,352 immovable and 16,713 movable waqf properties registered under the Waqf Act, citing information available on Waqf Assets Management System of India (WAMSI) portal.
“As per the information available on the WAMSI portal, 994 waqf properties have been shown as alienated,” minority affairs minister Kiren Rijiju said in the written reply.
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Alienated properties refer to waqf land or assets that have been transferred or encroached upon through unlawful means.
{{/usCountry}}Alienated properties refer to waqf land or assets that have been transferred or encroached upon through unlawful means.
{{/usCountry}}In his question, Brittas sought to know the number of waqf properties across the country, along with state-wise breakup, as well as concerns about the waqf properties unlawfully alienated, along with details of such properties.
“Section 51(1-A) of the Waqf Act provides that any sale, gift, exchange, mortgage or transfer of the waqf property shall be void ab initio. Additionally, Section 52 of the Waqf Act states that if the (Waqf) Board, after conducting any inquiry in the prescribed manner, determines that any waqf property has been alienated, it may send a requisition to the Collector, within whose jurisdiction the property is located, to take possession of the property and deliver it to the Board,” the minister said in the reply.
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The ministry further informed that Tamil Nadu reported a maximum of 734 waqf properties as alienated out of the total 994 such properties across the country, followed by Andhra Pradesh with 152, Punjab with 63, Uttarakhand with 11, and Jammu and Kashmir with 10 alienated properties.
Meanwhile, the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry informed the Rajya Sabha that no land has been provided by the Centre to the Waqf Board since 2019.
In a written reply to a question from Rajya Sabha member Mithlesh Kumar about the total area of land provided to the Waqf Board by the Central and state governments from 2019 till date, Minister of State (MoS) Tokhan Sahu said land is a state subject and hence, no data of land provided by the state governments is available with the ministry.
He, however, added that as far as the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is concerned, “no land has been provided by the Government of India to Waqf Board since 2019.”
The Union government introduced the Waqf (Amendment) Bill in August this year and referred it to a joint parliamentary committee for deliberation. The JPC headed by senior BJP lawmaker Jagdambika Pal has been granted an extension till the last week of the Budget Session next year to submit its report.