‘Once a Waqf, always a Waqf’, says AIMIM on amendments

New Delhi: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) on Sunday said that the apex court has ruled that any property belonging to Waqf will always remain with the Waqf.

“Supreme Court, while referring to the property, has said that ‘once a Wafq, always a Waqf’. Anyone neither can sell the property nor create a third-party right over the Waqf properties. Our elders have distributed these properties as charities which have come properly through the government gazette,” AIMIM Spokesperson Waris Pathan said.

He also attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) for trying to “snatch” Muslim properties.

“We have been saying from the beginning that the BJP has ill intentions when it comes to the Muslim properties. They have a problem with Muslims. They have a problem with what we eat, with Hijab, madrassas and even masajids,” the AIMIM Spokesperson said.

He said that everyone knows that after the 1995 Waqf Act, it was amended in 2013.

“They (BJP and RSS) have alleged that there is some dispute within the Waqf properties across the country. There are courts and judiciary which can handle these disputes. Who is the BJP to decide about the Waqf properties? Their (BJP and RSS) only agenda is to grab the Muslim properties,” he said.

The BJP only wants to keep the Muslim community in a state of disruption which is why they (BJP) every day come up with something new against the community.

Sources said that the Union government is discussing 40 amendments to the Waqf Act.

The proposed amendments include mandatory verification of any property claims by the Waqf Board and changes to the structure of the Central and State Waqf Board Councils to ensure women’s representation. The bill also proposes new verification for disputed lands claimed by state Waqf Boards.

The Waqf Board Act, initially passed in 1954 during Jawaharlal Nehru’s government, aimed to simplify Waqf management and provisions.

It led to the establishment of the Central Waqf Council in 1964, under the Ministry of Minority Affairs, providing advisory support on Waqf Board matters.

The Waqf Act was amended in 1995 to allow the formation of Waqf Boards in all states and Union Territories.