Even as the Centre is considering amendments to the Wakf Act to accommodate demands from minority sects within the Muslim community, Shias have demanded a separate Wakf board to administer their religious properties.
Even as the Centre is considering amendments to the Wakf Act to accommodate demands from minority sects within the Muslim community, Shias have demanded a separate Wakf board to administer their religious properties.
The Wakf (Amendment) Bill, 2010, has already been passed by the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha has now set up a 13-member committee that includes Dr Bhalchandra Mungekar, former vice-chancellor of Mumbai university, to suggest changes in the present Act. On Wednesday, the committee met a representative of the Shia community to hear out their demands.
As per the existing Wakf Act 1995, boards have been set up in all states to administer Muslim religious trusts. Wakf properties are those religious institutions including mosques, schools, orphanages and tombs, most of which have been willed to the community by philanthropists.
Earlier, like all other trusts, these organisations were under the jurisdiction of the charity commissioner. After the act was passed, the jurisdiction of Muslim religious trust passed to the board constituted under the act. Many trusts, including two of the largest Dargahs in Mumbai have challenged the change of jurisdiction in the Bombay high court.
Apart from administering the working of the trusts, the board is also authorised to give permission for development of properties belonging to the trusts. However, Shias have complained that none of the boards have a Shia representative though they constitute almost a fifth of India’s Muslims. Only two states — Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have separate Wakf boards for Shias.
The All India Shia Personal Law Board (AISPLB), which has written to the Rajya Sabha committee, has said that the amended act should have provisions for the appointment of Shia members. MM Yasoob Abbas, spokesperson for the law board, said one of the biggest problems Shia trusts face is the ignorance about their religious rituals among Wakf board members and officials.
“For instance, we have specific religious rituals during Moharrum. The Wakfnama or deeds left by donors of religious properties call for the performance of these rituals. But when our trusts ask for permission to use our funds for these rituals, the Wakf officials want to know what these rituals are,” said Abbas who has been called to Delhi to meet members of the Rajya Sabha committee.
President of law board Maulana Mirza Mohammed Athar said, “Ideally, we would like to have a separate board to administer our properties. If not, we want our representatives in the board.”
Athar added that the Shia board could include representatives of various smaller sects within the community.
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