Waqf Act,1995 : A Tool given to Waqf Boards to snatch the property of Hindus ?
Waqf Act was first
passed by the Parliament in 1954. Subsequently it was repealed and a new Waqf
Act was passed in 1995 which gave more powers to Waqf Boards. In 2013, this Act
was further amended to give unlimited powers to Waqf Boards to snatch anyone’s
property,which even could not be challenged in any court of law. In March 2014,
just before the commencement of Loksabha Elections, Congress Party gifted 123
prime properties in Delhi to Delhi Waqf Board by using this law. Due to this
black law, thousands of acres of land of Hindus have been snatched away in the
country so far. Recently Tamilnadu waqf Board has declared 6 Villages of
Tamilnadu, including a 1500 years old Hindu Temple as Waqf property.
Simply put, the Waqf
Board has unlimited powers to claim properties in the name of Muslim charity.
But to understand how he got this right, we have to turn the pages of history.
In fact, the Hindus who
came to India after partition from Pakistan, their properties in Pakistan were
occupied by the Muslims and the Government of Pakistan. But the Government of
India gave the land of Muslims who had gone from India to Pakistan to the Waqf
Boards. After which the Waqf Board Act was made in the year 1954. But in the
year 1995, by changing the Waqf Board Act, the Waqf Boards were given unlimited
rights to acquire land. After which the property of the Waqf Board doubled
during the day and quadrupled at night.
According to the data
of Waqf Management System of India, at present there are total 8,54,509
properties with Waqf Boards which are spread over more than eight lakh acres of
land. You will be surprised to know that after the Army and Railways, most of
the land is with the Waqf Boards.
In the year 2009, the
properties of the Waqf Board were spread over four lakh acres of land. Which
has now more than doubled. Whereas the land in the country is the same as it
was before. Still, how is the Waqf Board's land increasing? Wherever the Waqf
Board gets the boundary wall of the cemetery done in the country, it considers
the land around it as its property. Similarly, illegal shrines and mosques are
gradually declared by the Waqf Board as their property. In simple language,
people call this encroachment and the Waqf Board has got the right to this
encroachment.
Section 3 of the Waqf
Act, 1995 states that if the Waqf “thinks” that the land belongs to a Muslim,
then it is the property of the Waqf. It should be noted here that just “thinking
of Waqf” is enough, Waqf Board does not need any proof for this. If Waqf
accepts that your property is not yours but Waqf Board's, then you cannot even
go to court. You can approach the Waqf Tribunal Court.
Section 85 of the Waqf
Act states that if you cannot satisfy the Waqf Board Tribunal that it is your
own land, then you will be ordered to vacate the land. The decision of the Tribunal
will be final. No court, not even the Supreme Court, can change the decision of
the Waqf Tribunal.
Section 40 of the Waqf
Act states that when the Waqf Board lays a claim on the land of a person, it is
not the responsibility of the Waqf Board to prove the claim on the land, but
the real owner of the land has to prove the ownership of his land.
That is, if the Waqf
Board claims any land, then understand that the Waqf Board has become the owner
of the land.
How a religious law
like Waqf Act has been made applicable in a secular country like India, is shocking and surprising. The question is
why there is no such act for Hindus, Christians and Sikhs? Why only for
Muslims? See the irony that in the year 1991 the Places of Worship Act was made
which says that the religious places which existed at the time of independence
of the country will be retained as it is. At the same time, in 1995, the Waqf
Act comes into force, which gives the right to the Waqf Board across the
country to claim its rights on any property and the aggrieved party cannot even
appeal in any court of the country against this snatching of the property by
the Waqf Board.
It is strange to hear
that such an act exists in a secular country. Whereas there is no such act in
any Muslim country. Muslim countries like Turkey, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon,
Syria, Jordan and Iraq have neither a Waqf Board nor a Waqf Law. There should
be no place for Waqf Act in India also. The government should repeal the Waqf
Act as the same is clearly unconstitutional.
(My this article was first published in Times of India on 26 September 2022 at the following link:
Waqf Act,1995: A Tool given to Waqf Boards to snatch the property of Hindus ? (indiatimes.com)
Comments
Post a Comment