Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025: A new beginning!

The recent debate around the Waqf Amendment Bill has brought into contention the long-running discussion about the institution of Waqf and its legitimacy. It also brought into the limelight the blatant Muslim appeasement politics followed by the so-called secular custodian parties of the country. In the last few days, the newsroom has been full of rhetorical debates from both the supporting and opposition parties. But, in all of this, what I have failed to realise is how something that is so blatantly arbitrary and against the "samajiksamrasta" found support. 

Under public scrutiny

Also, another thing that I am perplexed about is how the other party got away after passing such draconian legislation. It is only now that their actions are under public scrutiny. Anyhow, this article is about putting in plain view the draconian nature of the other party-passed Waqf legislation, its effect on the common man, and how the new law aims to alter the wrongdoing of the previous legislation.

4th April 2025, is a historical day as the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, was passed by the Rajya Sabha. The Waqf Act, of 1995 will now be known as the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency, and Development Act, 2025. A transformation that is almost three decades late as the previous act should have been scrapped on its inception. There were multiple issues with the legislation that affected not just the people of other religions but also the Muslims. 

'Once a Waqf, always a Waqf'

The concept of ‘once a Waqf, always a Waqf’ is in itself arbitrary. The previous legislation gave unlimited powers to the Waqf board. The act provided powers to the board to declare private properties as Waqf. This led to multiple illegal occupations. Even the decision of the Waqf tribunal cannot be challenged in the higher courts. Moreover, the Waqf Act applied to only one religion, while there was no similar legislation for other religions. 

Even for Muslims, there were only Shia and Sunni Waqf boards recognised, while other sects were not included. There were multiple procedural flaws related to the survey as well as the transfer of ownership in the Act. The provisions of the legislation are so blatantly biased that one can easily witness the appeasement politics of the other party. 

Waqf boards for other sects

However, the new act aims to undo a lot of the wrongs of the previous act. The new Act declares that no government property will be a Waqf property. It also allows for an appeal against the tribunal decision within 90 days. Moreover, it recognises Waqf boards for the Bohra and Agakhani sects, along with Shia and Sunni sects. Also, to safeguard the properties of people from other religions, the donor of the property should have to be a practicing Muslim for at least 5 years. 

The new act also diversifies the composition of the Waqf Board and the Central Waqf Council to include members of the non-Muslim community. The new law tries to create a check and balance, which the previous act was missing. However, to understand the egregious consequences of the previous act, we need to see the consequences of the act on normal people.

Land of common people

There have been multiple incidents where the Waqf Board has arbitrarily claimed the land of the common people. In August 2024, Waqf claimed ownership of a village near Patna. Similarly, in September 2022, the Waqf Board claimed ownership of the entire Thiruchendurai village in Trichy, which also has a 1500-year-old temple. In August 2023 Waqf Board claimed ownership of a locality of 75 homes given to flood-affected victims in the 1980s. The owners of the homes now can’t transfer property as they need an NOC from the Waqf Board. Moreover, in Karnataka, 516 farmers in Gadag district received Waqf notice of land ownership. 

Representation of women, 'pasmanda'

Such incidents are a clear testament to the pain and struggle that normal villagers have to go through due to the unchecked powers given to the Waqf Board in the previous act. With such powers in the hand of the Waqf board, the power gets consolidated to people managing the Board. In the previous act, neither women nor Pasmanda Muslims got adequate representation on the Board, leading to skewed power usurpation by the Ashrafs, who largely ran the Waqf Boards across the country. This is the primary reason that the maximum complaints received by the Ministry of Minority Affairs against Waqf were by Muslims only.

Corruption in Waqf Board?

Also, since there was not much scrutiny of the Waqf Board, there have been allegations of widespread corruption in the Waqf Board. Central Governments and multiple state Governments have formed commissions to scrutinise the corruption in the Waqf Board. The Central Government had previously set up the K Rehman Khan Committee to look into the Waqf administration. 

Inappropriate Institution?

Similarly, the Sachar Committee report recommended changes in Waqf, claiming it was an inoperable institution that had widespread corruption. The Kerala Government in 2007 set up an MA Nisaar Commission to look into the corruption of the Waqf Board. The commission reported on how 700 acres of land were wrongfully sold by the Waqf Board. Similarly, in 2012, the Karnataka government set up an Anwar Manipaddy Panel for Waqf discrepancy, which reported more than 2 Lakh crore corruption by politicians, land mafias, and middlemen.

The new Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency, and Development Act, 2025 should be welcomed with both arms as it undoes a historical wrong committed by the other party. The previous act was very detrimental to the Muslim community, and it systematically sidelined 

(Akshat Gupta is an Amazon Best Selling Bilingual Author, born in Ambikapur, Chhattisgarh, and currently based in Mumbai. He is also the Most Viewed Author Online. Akshat is the creator of the highly acclaimed trilogy The Hidden Hindu, which seamlessly blends mythology and science fiction. As a versatile artist, Akshat has contributed as a lyricist, Bollywood screenwriter, and poet, being involved in 9 Bollywood films and 2 web series.

(Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own and do not reflect those of DNA)