With the government all set to bring a Bill in Parliament to amend the 1995 law governing Waqf boards, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board on Sunday said any interference with the legal status and the powers of the Waqf boards will not be tolerated. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) also urged allies of the NDA and opposition parties to “completely reject any such move” and not allow such amendments to be passed in Parliament.
AIMPLB spokesperson S Q R Ilyas said the board appeals to all Muslims and their religious and Milli organisations to unite against this “malicious act of the government”.
The board will take all kinds of legal and democratic measures to thwart this move, he said in a statement.
The government is all set to make amendments in the Wakf Act to ensure more accountability and transparency in the functioning of Waqf boards and mandatory inclusion of women in these bodies, sources said.
They claimed that the move comes in the backdrop of demands from within the Muslim community.
The amendment Bill will make it mandatory for Waqf boards to register their properties with district collectors to ensure their actual valuation.
“The All India Muslim Personal Law Board deems it necessary to make it clear that any change in the Wakf Act, 2013 which alters the nature of Waqf properties or makes it easier for the government or any individual to usurp the same will not be acceptable,” Ilyas said.
Likewise, reducing or restricting the powers of Waqf boards will not be tolerated, he said.
He said that according to confirmed reports, the government wants to change the status and nature of the Waqf properties through about 40 amendments in the Wakf Act, so that their possession becomes easier.
The board considers it important to clarify that Waqf properties are donations made by Muslim philanthropists dedicated to religious and charitable purposes, and the government has only enacted the Wakf Act to regulate them.
He further said that the Wakf Act and Waqf properties are protected by the Constitution of India and the Shariat Application Act, 1937.
Therefore, the government cannot make any amendment that would change and alter the nature and status of these properties, Ilyas claimed.
He alleged that all decisions and actions of the Modi government regarding Muslims have “taken away from them” rather than giving them anything and cited the closure of Maulana Azad Foundation, restricting minority scholarship and the ban on instant triple talaq.
Ilyas claimed that the issue would not be restricted to Muslims only as “after wielding the axe on Wakf Act, it is feared that the next number may be the endowments of Sikhs and Christians and then on the Matta and other religious properties of Hindus”.
Muslims would never accept any amendment to the Wakf Act that would change its status, he said.
“Similarly, interference with the legal and judicial status and powers of Waqf boards will not be tolerated,” Ilyas said.
