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Mumbai:
Ex-officer on Special Duty at Prime Minister's Office and a
former bureaucrat has expressed serious concerns over the
loopholes he found in the Rajya Sabha Select Committee Report on
Waqf and cautioned the Muslims to be extra vigilant if they want a
Waqf Act strong enough to protect the waqf properties.
Detailing the recommendations
made by the Sachar Committee and Joint Parliamentary Committee on
Waqf that the Rajya Sabha Select Committee has ignored, he warned
that if "the Muslims do not give the required attention even now
the Waqf properties would remain vulnerable to misuse.
"The valuable recommendations made
by the Sachar Committee and the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC)
on Waqf have profound and far-reaching impact on the maintenance
of the Waqf properties, their management, development and
utilization. If the Muslims do not give the required attention
even now, the Waqf management would continue to suffer from the
weaknesses and loopholes for centuries to come", Dr Zafar Mahmood,
who was Officer on Special Duty for the Sachar Committee, warned
in an article written to highlight the lapses.
Stating that the Joint Parliamentary Committee and Sachar
Committee both recommended to safeguard the Waqf affairs from
unnecessary bureaucratic interferences, Dr Zafar observed,
"Instead of including this important recommendation in the Waqf
Bill, the Ministry of Minority Affairs proposed such amendments in
section 56 of Waqf Act that endanger the Waqf Board's autonomy and
the Select Committee did not raise any objection to these
amendments."
On mandatory appointment of Waqf
Survey Commissioner as recommended by the Sachar Committee and
inclusion in the next survey of all Waqf properties as existed at
the time of the the independence on August 15, 1947 recommended by
the Joint Parliamentary Committee, he said, "Ministry of Minority
Affairs did not incorporate these two recommendations in the Waqf
Amendment Bill and they also slipped from the attention of the
Rajya Sabha Select Committee."
Dr Zafar also expressed serious
concern over the omission by the Rajya Sabha Select Committee of
the guidelines laid by the Sachar Committee for the appointments
of chairman and secretary of the Central Waqf Council. As per its
guidelines, the Sachar Committee had recommended someone like a
retired supreme court judge, former vice chancellor of a
university or ex-chairman of any Waqf Board as the "full time"
chairman of the Waqf Council and minimum level of the secretary of
the council should be of Joint Secretary to the Government of
India.
"However", Dr Zafar pointed, "In
respect to both of these recommendations, the Ministry of Minority
Affairs did not make any provision in the Waqf Amendment Bill and
the Select Committee too missed them out."
On the appointments of the Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) of the Waqf Boards, Dr Zafar recalled that
both the Sachar Committee and the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC)
had found that because of the unavailability of a Muslim officer
of appropriate levels in the states, junior and non-eligible
persons usually get appointed to the post. "This is why the Sachar
Committee recommended that a separate cadre of specifically
trained officers should be created for the management of Waqf in
the country. This however was ignored by the Ministry of Minority
Affairs and the select committee too did not find suitable to
include in its report", he wrote.
Dr Zafar also expressed surprise
over the ignorance by the select committee about the duration for
leasing out the waqf properties to registered trusts and exemption
of waqf properties from Rent Control Act.
"Everyone knows that the Rent
Control Acts are heavily tilted in favour of the tenant. Moreover,
income of the Waqf revenues has been at the lowest ebb. Cases have
been lost by the Waqf Boards in the courts. Thus the Muslim
community has been raising the demand that Waqf properties should
be exempted from the rent contract acts. But The Rajya Sabha
Select Committee did not take note of the significant omission by
the Minority Affairs Ministry in the Waqf Amendment Bill", he
observed.
Dr Zafar also expressed surprise
over the silence of the Select Committee on the way the Minority
Affairs Ministry overlooked the guidelines by the Sachar Committee
and the Joint Parliamentary Committee about the Waqf Tribunal and
giving magisterial powers to the Waqf Board CEOs.
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