Preface
This book is based on my more than fifty years of experience in teaching and researching Waqf laws and administration in India, Nigeria and Malaysia and also writing six other books on Waqf-related topics. The present book differs from earlier ones as its focus is on a commentary on the Waqf Act, 1995 as amended in 2013, which is now the dominant law relating to Waqf in India. It has swept aside like a tsunami, the old Waqf Act, 1954, Bengal Waqf Act 1934, U.P. Waqf Act, 1960 and Bihar Waqf Act, 1947. The only survivors are the Dargah Khwaja Saheb Act, 1955 and J & K Waqf Act, 1978. In view of the recent changes in the legal status of Jammu & Kashmir, it seems safe, to write on the J & K Waqf Act, 1978, very briefly.
I do not claim to possess any special qualification in Waqf administration except what is based on the seven years long field study (1964-1971) which I conducted on Waqf in India for my PhD in Laws at the Aligarh Muslim University. It was the first PhD in Islamic Law awarded by the university in its more than a century-long history. Prof. Humayun Kabir, who was the then Minister of Waqf, Govt. of India, sanctioned a special grant to finance my field study on Waqf. Many provisions in the Waqf Act are based on my findings. My PhD research on Waqf administration in India, covering the entire country gave me an opportunity to see Waqf and its administration face-to-face. What I found was Waqf laws enacted during the last eighty-plus years (1934-2013), have laid down a very solid statutory foundation on which future infrastructure of Waqf administration could be built with confidence. It will make Waqf the most potent instrument of Muslim philanthropy in India. However, unfortunately, not much was done about development of Waqf properties to generate funds for charity. It should now occupy our attention.
Introduction
A PREVIEW OF FUTURE OF WAQF IN INDIA & CURRENT PROBLEMS
Why Awqaf in India have Failed to Benefit the Community? Any Solution?
The only way which could lead Awqaf to benefit the community is the development of urban and rural Waqf properties, as it alone could generate around Rs. 10,000 crores annually needed for this purpose. Hence our sole pre-occupation from now on should be this. If we critically scan the past 60 years between 1954 when the Waqf Act was passed and 2013 when the Waqf Amendment Act put the stamp of maturity on the statutory regulation of Waqf administration in India, it comes out very clearly that till now our sole focus was to create an effective Waqf administration through statutory regulation. To a large extent we have succeeded in this, but unfortunately, forgetting development of Awqaf and failing to provide supporting statutory provisions for this.
The following points deserve our attention:
1. Today, we may proudly claim to have the best Waqf Legislation in the world, notwithstanding its excessive length which negates the maxim-"Brevity is the beauty of law". However, this small pimple on an otherwise charming face does not affect its beauty, rather it increases it. Provisions which are crafted regarding survey of Awqaf are excellent, as these have given birth to a thorough and judicially foolproof infrastructure for conducting it, making it the best in the world. It indeed helped to un-earth more than 250,000 Awqaf in India, hidden as personal properties.
2. Section 14 (1A) of the Waqf Act provides that "at least two members appointed on the (Waqf) Board shall be women". Nowhere else except in India such a mandatory provision exists. This gender-friendly provision is unique, and is laudable. But its impact has yet to be determined.
3. Reference of Waqf disputes to Waqf Tribunals instead of Civil Courts, to ensure cutting of costs and protractedness, and above all application of classical Waqf rules in adjudication of such cases, make these statutory provisions very useful in a county having no Shariah courts.
4. The upgrading of the Central Waqf Council (CWC) to the status of a virtual administrative body having powers to supervise the working of State Waqf Boards, as done by the 2013 Amendment to the Waqf Act, has been a corrective step, even though not a step, without problems.
5. Lack of adequate funding may, however, haunt the CWC, in exactly a similar manner as the Waqf Boards, which are generally so hard-pressed financially that in many cases these are surviving on doles given by the State Governments.
6. What we have achieved during the last 60 years is to create a model of statutory provisions, very useful and essential, and a whole infrastructure of administrative bodies like Waqf Boards and CWC, which are all half-functional because they are starved of funding. They survive on annual contributions made by Awqaf, whose income is static in the absence of any developmental activity. So, the biggest problem for today's Waqf administration is lack of funding. In this scenario, when no funding is available to save the Waqf infrastructure from collapsing, it would be insanity to complain about neglect of community welfare. There is simply no money for this, unless we have the resourcefulness to generate about Rs. 10,000 crores annually. It appears a tall order, but Awgaf in India have the potential to generate even more, if the needful is done.
Mere achievement of statutory excellence is not enough. Establishment of poorly-staffed and financially-starved Waqf Boards or a Central Waqf Council and maintaining them at the cost of crores of rupees of scarce Waqf funds is neither helpful to Awqaf management nor to community. This infrastructure is dying under its own dead weight due to lack of funding. The staffs of a Waqf Board are ill-paid hence no qualified young person likes to join a Board. Poor salaries open the gates of corruption, complicating the matter even further.
Development to boost the income of Awqaf for the Welfare of the Community was never our objective during the initial 33 years (1954-1987) of Waqf Administration in India.
The reason behind this apparently curious attitude is embedded in history and needs to be discussed briefly. The abuse and neglect of Awqaf during the Colonial Period in India has much to do with the post-independence governmental attitude towards this institution.
Waqf once created, with objects identified by the Waqif and entrusted to a mutawalli under Islamic Law, fell under the jurisdiction of the local Qadi for supervision. Later on, Muslim Indian kings created the office of Sadr in every province and a Sadr-us-Sudur for the whole country.
Hindu (942)
Agriculture (138)
Ancient (1128)
Archaeology (826)
Architecture (579)
Art & Culture (947)
Biography (737)
Buddhist (548)
Cookery (168)
Emperor & Queen (589)
Islam (314)
Jainism (345)
Literary (889)
Mahatma Gandhi (396)
Send as free online greeting card
Email a Friend
Visual Search
Manage Wishlist