There is a lot of buzz about the Islamic WAQF Board across the country at this time, it is an Islamic institution that is being accused of illegally occupying millions of acres of land. Recently, we have seen how the WAQF Board has claimed ownership of 7 Hindu-dominated villages and a 1500-year-old temple in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruchirappalli district, and locals are being forced to take permission certificates from the Waqf Board before buying and selling their land. 

However, the alarming capture of entire villages of Tamil Nadu including a 1500-years-old Hindu Mandir by the Wakf board has started a much-needed debate on this move of land grabbing. It has highlighted the grave extra-constitutional privileges that are given to certain Minority Institutions in the name of Secular politics. It has also brought back an appalling case where the ruling UPA government was allegedly working as the agent of such Minority Institutions.

After this, there has been a demand across the country to abolish the unlimited powers given to the WAQF Board and ban it with immediate effect. While the controversy is going on, it has been learned that the Congress-led UPA government had gifted 123 very important government properties in Lutyens’ Delhi to the WAQF before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has been out of power for more than eight years, yet the list of its alleged scams and appeasement policies is never-ending. The UPA 2.0 was marred with countless allegations of corruption and the writing on the wall was clear. It had no chance of making a comeback to power. Amid all such clamors of despair within the Congress party, it seemed that it resorted to shattering all records of appeasement. Reportedly, at the far end of its second tenure, the UPA government “gifted” prime properties in the heart of Delhi to the Wakf board in lieu of vote bank politics.

Preparations for the Lok Sabha elections were underway at that time, and the decision was conveyed to everyone through a secret note just days before the elections. These properties are located in prime locations like Connaught Place, Ashoka Road, Mathura Road, and other VVIP enclaves in Delhi’s most important and expensive areas.

According to a Times Now report, the decision was taken on just one phone call to identify 123 government properties in favor of the Delhi Waqf Board. The news channel also shared a secret note, dated March 5, 2014, and signed by then additional secretary J P Prakash.

As per media reports, the Wakf board holds the third largest land owner in India only behind the Indian Railways and the Department of Defence. Reportedly, around 5 lakhs properties are registered under this “minority welfare board”. All these Wakf properties are spread across 6 lakh acres of land. The worth of this mammoth land bank is said to be to the tune of around Rs 1.20 lakh crore. Apparently, all this land grabbing was legalized in the garb of religion and it ran unabated courtesy to the connivance of corrupt and power-hungry politicians.

UPA waved a magic wand to win 2014 Lok Sabha election

The Congress party is in troubling waters for its past decisions. Apparently, it is alleged that right before the announcement of the Model Code of Conduct in 2014, it gifted around 123 high-valued properties to the Delhi wakf board. Allegedly, with a stroke of a pen, it surrendered its ownership of these lands which it inherited after Independence. On 5th March 2014, the UPA administration denotified these 123 prime properties giving legitimacy to the illegal land grabbing of the Wakf board.

“Denotification of 123 properties in Delhi under the control of Land and Development Office (LNDO) and Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to release formal details,” the note addressed to the Urban Development Ministry Secretary said. According to Times Now, the Delhi WAQF Board had written a supplementary note to the Government of India on February 27, 2014, claiming 123 prime properties in the national capital.

Importantly and shockingly, within a week of receiving the proposal, a ‘secret note’ was issued by the UPA Cabinet without following any procedure. The news channel also traced a notice from the Union Home Ministry, which said, “The Central Government is withdrawing control from these Waqf properties mentioned under the control of LNDO and DDA subject to the following conditions.”

Records state that 61 of these properties were with the Land and Development Office under the Union Urban Development Ministry and 62 with the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). Notably, the Ministry was headed by Kamal Nath at the time of this cabinet ratification of this move.

These illegal properties surrendered by the UPA include high-value properties in areas such as Connaught Place, Janpath, Mathura Road, and Karol Bagh, among others. The said surrender of ownership rights allowed the Delhi Wakf Board to carry out construction and renovation work on these properties.

The Congress-led UPA Government, in the entire process, admitted that 123 properties belonged to the Delhi WAQF Board, and after the Board gave a note, they immediately decided to release their ownership of those properties. It should be mentioned that the said properties were inherited from the British government and their status remained unchanged till March 5, 2014.

According to a senior ministry official, the de-notification process was done in haste, you will be surprised to know that this work was done a day before the model code of conduct came into force. Of the 123 properties, 61 were owned by LNDO, while the remaining 62 properties were owned by the DDA, and all of them were given to the WAQF Board.

Modi govt initiated proceedings to take back these properties, but the work is still incomplete.

However, this glaring appeasement tactic was quickly challenged in court. The Indraprastha team of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) challenged the UPA surrender in the Delhi High Court. The VHP accused the UPA government of giving “undue favor” to the Minority community.

In August 2014, the High Court disposed of the VHP petition asking the Union government, Land and Development Office to take appropriate decisions after hearing all the stakeholders. However, the court categorically directed to maintain the status quo which prevented the properties from falling in the illegal control of Delhi Wakf Board.

In early February 2015, the NDA government led by PM Modi decided to conduct an inquiry into the manner these government properties were gifted to the Delhi WAQF Board. On the other hand, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) had approached the Delhi High Court against the decision.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad had argued that valuable properties cannot be issued and identified in this manner under Section 48 of the Land Acquisition Act. Speaking about this, the then Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu had said, “I have received a representation against Salman Khurshid, on the eve of his demitting office last year, he was instrumental in the transfer of these properties keeping in mind vote bank politics.

In May 2016, the BJP government had set up an inquiry committee headed by retired Delhi Higher Judicial Service officer J R Aryan. It was given the task of submitting the report within a period of 6 months. In June 2017, it was reported that the committee had recommended that the final decision on ownership of 123 properties should be taken by the Delhi WAQF Commissioner. An official said that the JR Aryan Committee failed to examine the main issue of de-notification i.e. whether the properties actually belonged to the WAQF.

This was despite the fact that it was tasked with knowing the views of all stakeholders. Even though it was given an additional 6-month extension, the inquiry committee failed to come up with a concrete solution and put the onus on the WAQF Board commissioner. It suggested that DDA and LNDA take up the matter with the WAQF Commissioner for resolution.

It is important to know here that the power to appoint the Delhi WAQF Board Commissioner rests with the Delhi government, which is run by the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party. Amanatullah Khan is the current chairman of the Delhi WAQF Board, and he has been yesterday by ACB while investigating a scam associated with the WAQF board.

The said land transfer case is a glaring example of appeasement politics, illegal land grabbing of special powers vested to some Minority institutions. The recent controversies have highlighted the mighty administrative and judicial powers of the wakf board. It is high time that the Wakf act which gives extra-constitutional power to this body is scrapped so as to put a stop to this glaring land grabbing.

Na-paak Jugalbandi between Waqf and Congress

Now shouldn’t we ask ourselves the question how did a board for minority welfare come to own such a large amount of land? The answer lies, as always, with Congress, the root cause of every ill in this country. First thing first, to safeguard the Muslim properties in India, the “Hindu by mistake” PM Jawaharlal Nehru enacted the Waqf Act of 1954. And to appease Muslims in the aftermath of the Babri demolition, the Waqf Act of 1954 was revised by the PV Narasimha Rao-led Congress government in 1995, granting the Waqf Board unrestricted authority. Any property, that is regarded by Muslim law as Halal (holy), religious (religious), or charitable (charitable) for any purpose, shall become the property of the Waqf, according to Section 3(r) of the Waqf Act 1995. According to Article 40 of the Waqf Act of 1995, the Waqf Board and Surveyor of Waqf will decide to whom this land belongs.

The Waqf Act also says that disputes related to lands, declared Waqf by the board, cannot be challenged in the SC or HC. If the board declares that a piece of property is part of the Waqf, an appeal must be made to the Waqf Tribunal rather than to the court. Imagine the Extended Institution of the same Waqf Board will hear the complaint against the Waqf Board, who made the incorrect claim! Here the question again arises, if someone feels the tribunal cannot be doubted, then why is there no similar law, the similar tribunal for non-Muslims?

Congress, it seems, is hell-bent on destroying this holy country by hook or by crook. There are many instances in the last 75 years of independent India, where Congress was seen bowing down to its Muslim and Christian masters. The Waqf Act is another such instance, where Congress has forgotten the rich culture and history of our motherland and gave the nation on a platter to the Muslims, as its last PM, Manmohan Singh declared that Muslims have the first right on the resources of this country. The Waqf Act is a tool, which Congress uses further to dissect the harmony of this country and bring discontent among the masses and eventually be in power.

Is the central government finally moving forward to resolve this issue completely?

References:

trunicle.com
tfipost.com
udayindia.in