PrintFriendlyThe dynamics of life and time demand changes from time to time because anything that is old and rotten can’t do much of a good thing for mankind. That is exactly why and what was done in the recent Waqf (Anandment) Bill, 2025, with a view to check any further misuse of Waqf boards.
In what could be called historic, Parliament passed the Waqf(Amendment) bill 2025 soon after the Rajya Sabha gave its nod to pass the legislation after a marathon debate just the way it was passed in the Lok Sabha a day earlier. A day after, President Droupadi Murmu signed the Waqf (Amendment) bill 2025 into law.
The passage of the Bill was quite smooth as the BJP enjoyed a clear majority with some of its ‘secular’ allies in both the Houses. It was a forgone conclusion, but the debates in both the Houses would were noisy and yet quite fruitful with most of the major parties participating and supporting the historic bill.
The government said that the “historic reform” would benefit the Muslim community at large to a great extent. The Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha with 128 members voting in favour and 95 others voting against it. The government said that it was in the overall interest and benefit of the Muslim minority community, as the enactment of the new Waqf law will regulate the Islamic endowments covering lakhs of acres and other assets across the country that could be worth lakhs of crore.
The Home Minister, Mr. Amit Sah, said during the debate in the Lok Sabha that the Waqf bill sought to complete the unfinished task of the previous Congress governments, and as such, his government was clear in its objective of bringing about such a law for the benefit of all the Muslim brothers and sisters. The BJP president, Mr. J. P. Nada, pointed out that other Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkiye, Malaysia, Indonesia and several others too had gone for drastic changes in their Waqf laws so that there could be better management of Waqf properties. Nada asked why India should be left behind when most of the Muslim countries had brought about changes and digitising the Waqf properties laws for the good of all and to give justice to those who were neglected for ages.
Mr. Nada made it clear that the amendments in the Waqf laws would assure that the Waqf properties were in the right hands and used for the benefit of all Muslims. He said that in the previous governments, Muslim women were treated as second-grade citizens with most of their rights denied to them. “It was only in India that the Muslim women were not brought into the mainstream”, he added. He further stressed that the triple Talaq was banned in most Muslim countries such as Egypt, Sudan, Bangladesh and Syria many years
- Therefore, he said, India would not live with giving lip service but real service to the needy so that the Muslim sisters get the dignity to live happily and progressively.
Earlier, the Minorities Affairs Minister, Mr. Kiran Rijiju, said the bill was not against any community or person but for the better management of the Waqf properties and to accomplish what was left undone by the previous non-BJP governments. Referring to the Congress government’s failures to bring about such changes in the Waqf laws, Mr. Rijiju said that the Congress and its allies had tried to go in for “appeasement politics” when they too made a bid, in 1913, just before the 1914 elections, to bring about changes in the Waqf laws but left it unfished, as that was only to win over the Muslims and their sympathy.
The Minister, marshalling out statistics, said that as many as 31,999 cases were pending in the Waqf tribunals and more than 14000 litigants were Muslims. He added that a provision had been created to make it possible for a person to challenge a tribunal’s decision through civil suits in High Courts.
Objective and its importance: The objective of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2025 aims at:
- Modernising Waqf administration in order to reduce legal disputes and also to improve administrative efficiency.
- The Act has the objective to fix several issues in the 1995 Act as well as in the 2013 amendment. The issues had come up mainly because of so many properties under the Waqf boards and the resultant legal and social issues. There are 30 Waqf boards in the country, and as many as 8.72 lakh properties covering an area of over 38 lakh acre. And their worth is said to be at least Rs 1.2 lakh crore. That makes the Waqf boards as a group the third largest land-owners in the country. The first two are the Indian Army and the Indian Railways.
The Central government has made it clear both in Parliament and outside that the Waqf amendments had become the need of the hour because the Act had become either dysfunctional or non-transparent, and that had led to a number of litigations as they would claim right over any property. And then it is not to be forgotten that religious and non-Muslims too are at stake. The government had said that the Waqf properties are for religious and charitable purposes and not for the personal interest and gratification of a few. It is with this point in view that the new Act brings in checks and balances that empowers the stakeholders and the governing bodies. In other words, the Act comes as an effective tool to provide a progressive and fair framework for the Waqf administration within the country.
Claims over famous historical sites: It is quite a surprise that the Waqf boards in India oversee a vast and extensive land-holdings, making them among the largest ‘land-lords’! As a results, Waqf Boards across the country have been claiming their right to be owners over key properties including government properties and heritage sites over the last decade or two. One can’t list here all the thousands of properties claimed by the Waqf bords, but a few main ones could be an eye-opener: The Taj Mahal, the Safdarjung Tomb, Humayun’s Tomb, the Qutab Minar, Purana Quila and 123 Lutyens’ properties in Delhi. According to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) that worked on the latest amendment case, there are more than 200 claims, most of them regarding big and heritage sites. And the latest claim, according to newspaper reports, is over Antilia, worth Rs 15000 cr ($2billion), the residence of Asia’s richest man, Mr. Mukesh Ambani. Antilia, the costliest building next only to the Buckingham Palace, UK, the residence of the King of England, too is built, they have said, over Waqf land.
No wonder, political and legal issues too have been coming up quite often. Therefore, the latest amendment in the Waqf Bill seeks to streamline Waqf management and to quickly address disputes over such properties.
More significant is the stress on ‘giving full justice’ to the deserving and the rightful claimants among the community. And there would be a ‘justice system’ that will look at helping women and certain sects in the community that have been illtreated for centuries.
So, one can say with great confidence and proudly that the latest Act has come as a saviour of those who have been suffering from neglect and injustice from some of their more powerful brethren.
A wave of jubilation: Soon after both the Houses of Parliament passed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2025, almost 600 families, all Christians, in a wave of jubilation, ended their agitation in Munanbam, Kerala. And, 50 of them, all Christians, joined the BJP. Earlier, they belonged to the Congress and the CPI (M). Expressing their happiness over the change in the Waqf law, they said that would bring them the much-required relief because they were about to lose their 400-acre in the state. And they had been completely helpless to do anything about their own land for many years now.
BJP state president Rajiv Chandrasekhar visited the state and told the local protestors: “This is an important development in the state’s political history. The agitation has given strength to the Prime Minister and the BJP to get the amendment Bill passed quite easily. We will be with you until you get back your revenue rights over the land. This bill has the power to get back the revenue rights of your land as the people of Munambam had been betrayed by the MPs and MLAs whom you had elected.”
History of Waqf Boards: It is important to know and understand about the origin of the Waqf Boards in India because a correct picture can emerge only when we look at the ‘whole thing’ and not by having a selective look at its parts. So, the historical fact is that the Waqf Boards in Indian sub-continent were formed in the year 1913 during the British rule. Thereafter, the Mussalman Waqf Act 1923 was established with the sole objective of advising the government on the matters pertaining to the working of the State Waqf Boards and the proper administration of the Waqfs in the country.
To go a little further for a complete understanding of the Waqf boards, the word ‘Waqf’ has been derived from the Arabic word ‘Waqufa’ which means ‘to detain, to hold or to tie up.’ Later on, Waqf in Islamic laws came to refer to charitable endowments where an individual dedicates his or her property for religious or philanthropic purposes.
And then, the Waqf Act of 1995, enforced by the Central government, has been regulating the Waqf properties. The main administrative body is the Central Waqf Council that advises the government and the state Waqf boards on policy issues but does not directly control Waqf properties.
Before the 1995 Act, the first major law, the Waqf Act of 1954, laid the foundation for managing the properties. And since then, the Waqf board laws have been updated several times to keep them in tune as per the need of the time and to improve governance, thereby giving a check to misuse of properties.
And, during this period of few decades, besides the Central Waqf Council, several other bodies like the State Waqf Bords and Waqf Tribunals also came into being for efficient administration of property issues in their respective states.
And lastly, to sum up by way of conclusion, one can say that the latest Act has been taken seriously and welcomed by all the right-thinking people within the country and abroad. Since most of the countries in similar situations had gone for such amendments long ago, how could India be just be a spectator? As such, the new Act fulfills a long-standing demand, and now it will act as the right kind of tool to administer justice to all the deserving and the neglected minorities within the minorities. Moreover, the Act aims at quick and efficient administration of the Waqf boards across the country so that the ill-doings and corruption within the boards find no place in the 21st century’s open and dynamic society.
To put it in a sentence, one can say the latest Act is a move towards peace and progress of the people of all communities and the country through a justice-for-all system!
The writer is an independent Editor, columnist and a professional speaker.
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