Wakf property worth thousands of crores of rupees in the country has been encroached upon or illegally handed to the land mafia
Seeks termination of illegally leased propertyNEW DELHI: Wakf property worth thousands of crores of rupees in the country has been encroached upon or illegally handed to the land mafia while Wakf boards struggle to make ends meet. Submitting these findings in its ninth report, the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on Wakf has made wide ranging recommendations for development and better management of these properties and sought empowerment of the Central Wakf Committee.
JPC chairman K Rahman Khan said the total land under Wakf in India is estimated to be over four lakh acres. Proper development of this vast property would require about Rs1000-2000 crore annually and would give a return of Rs10,000 crore in 10 years which could be used for educational and economic development of Muslims.
Khan said the JPC had recommended that a corporation be set up for development of property and the government has agreed to this in principle. The JPC expressed concern over the fact that in several state Wakf boards, the chairman signed away land on lease although he has no such authority.
It said all such lease contracts, particularly in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi, be treated as illegal and cancelled.
There is a need to establish a mechanism and set up a development agency devoted to the development of valuable Wakf properties being illegally occupied and exploited by builders in connivance with corrupt officials of state Wakf boards, mutawallis (trustees) and weak management committees.
Metro cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai have prime Wakf properties worth several thousand crores such as Windsor Manor Hotel of Bangalore, Tollyganj Club and Shaw Wallace Building of Kolkata, nearly 4000 acres near the Hyderabad airport and another 4000 acres near Vizag, the JPC observed.
Governments are aware of the misuse of Wakf properties, which are public properties, but have remained mute spectators in all this, the JPC lamented.
The Muslim community has remained silent spectator to the exploitation of Wakf properties by vested interests.
Though under the Wakf Act, the entire management of the Wakf boards is in the hands of Muslims and the mutawallis and the misuse of Wakf properties has been done by the Muslims themselves and, therefore, it is but appropriate that the community should take the blame for the present state of affairs, the JPC said.
The JPC asked the government to enact laws to punish mutawallis using Wakf properties for personal benefit. Those using properties commercially and not paying fair rent should be made to do so or be evicted, it said.
Khan said a majority of states had not even set up Wakf boards, including states like Andhra Pradesh and Bihar which have large Wakf properties. Asserting that this was essential for proper monitoring and management of the properties, the JPC urged the Centre to convene a meeting of chief ministers to discuss the issue.
Besides, Wakf boards should not be used for political patronage. Taking the Jammu and Kashmir example, the JPC recommended an amendment in the Wakf Act, 1995, to set up tehsil or taluka level Wakf committees for better management of property.
s_rajesh@dnaindia.net 
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