MUMBAI: Taking the Maharashtra government to task, the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on Waqf rapped it for not properly implementing the Waqf Act of 1995.
The panel headed by Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K. Rahman Khan, said that the Maharashtra government should have transferred all Muslim charitable and religious institutions, whether they are trusts, mosques or shrines, from the Charity Commissioner’s jurisdiction to the Waqf Board, after the Waqf Act came into force in Maharashtra on Jan. 1, 1996. Pointing out the state government’s failure, the panel said that the Charity Commissioner continued to regulate Waqf institutions till 2003, when nearly 700 institutions were transferred to the Waqf Board.
“The JPC on Waqf is not happy with the state of affairs of the Maharashtra Waqf Board,” a report by the panel said.
Pointing out further that Maharashtra was one of the most progressive states in the country and it was the duty of the state to protect Waqf properties by implementing the law, the panel said it strongly feels that the state government “has totally abdicated its constitutional obligation” to implement the law passed by the Parliament.
The parliamentary committee, which studied the state of Waqf properties in several states, including Maharashtra, said there were several cases of alienation of such properties in the state.
Noting that the government should probe complaints against the chairman, the committee said it was informed that the concerned official acted in a questionable manner by permitting the sale of several properties and issued No-Objection Certificate (NOC) for lease or sale, for which he was not authorized.
Rahman blamed the state governments for neglecting Waqf institutions and said that the government should set up a mechanism to mobilize real estate resources with Waqf boards for socio-economic betterment of the Muslim community.
Rahman also said that the state governments should set up development agencies and cases of encroachments could be handed over the Central Bureau of Investigations.
