The Dawoodi Bohra community, represented by senior advocate Harish Salve, told the joint parliamentary committee (JPC) on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill that they should be kept out of the purview of any Waqf board, contending that the proposed legislation does not recognise their special status among the wider Muslim community.
This is the first time any sect of the Muslim community has sought exemption from the proposed Waqf law.
In a written submission to the JPC, Salve said the Dawoodi Bohra community is a “small and tightly-knit” denomination. “Its affairs do not need the kind of regulation that may be considered necessary or even desirable in relation to other denominations that do not believe in any such religious tenet,” the submission said, according to people familiar with the matter.
The submission further said it is necessary that the community members are permitted to establish, maintain, manage and administer such properties in accordance with their beliefs and essential religious practices.
While Waqf boards manage Islamic charitable endowments, the Dawoodi Bohra community cited various Supreme Court judgments to underline that the judiciary has recognised their “distinctive structure”.
Salve argued at length about the community’s distinctive features, especially the institution of ‘al-Dai al-Mutlaq’, a living community leader who enjoys absolute and unquestioned power in its affairs, to argue that any Waqf board cannot be allowed to have the final power over Dawoodi Bohras’ properties and related affairs.
{{/usCountry}}Salve argued at length about the community’s distinctive features, especially the institution of ‘al-Dai al-Mutlaq’, a living community leader who enjoys absolute and unquestioned power in its affairs, to argue that any Waqf board cannot be allowed to have the final power over Dawoodi Bohras’ properties and related affairs.
{{/usCountry}}The appeal assumes political significance as the small but affluent community is known to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Last year, while inaugurating an Arabic academy of the Dawoodi Bohra community in Mumbai, Modi had said: “I am your family member.”
Meanwhile, Opposition lawmaker part of the JPC met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday to lodge a complaint against the hasty approach of panel’s chairperson, BJP MP Jagdambika Pal. In the letter, the Opposition urged the Speaker to “direct” Pal to ensure a consensual decision-making to show a free and fair working of the panel.
A senior Opposition leader, requesting anonymity, said: “Birla has assured he will look into the issue.”
A government official maintained that the panel chief was eager to submit the report on Waqf bill before Parliament in the first week of the upcoming winter session. “The panel might go for another study trip covering Lucknow, Guwahati and Kolkata before finalising its report,” the official said, declining to be named.
BJP lawmaker from Bangalore South, Tejasvi Surya, who is also part of the JPC on Waqf bill, hinted that panel chief might also visit Karnataka amid ongoing political row in the southern state over Waqf notices allegedly being issued to some farmers.
Salve’s submission before the JPC also maintained that any legislation that purports to place such properties under the administration of the Waqf board is contrary to the faith and essential religious practices of the Dawoodi Bohra community protected under Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution of India, the people cited above added.