Does the Waqf Bill promote transparency?

• The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, was passed in the Rajya Sabha with 128 votes in favour and 95 against, narrowing the margin from the Lok Sabha.

• The Bill, introduced last year, seeks to amend the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development Act, aiming to expand the government’s role in managing waqf properties.

• Critics argue that the amendments encroach upon the religious autonomy of the Muslim community.

• The Bill restricts the right to dedicate property as waqf to those who have practiced Islam for at least five years.

• The government proposed a complete repeal of the doctrine of “waqf by user,” which recognized properties as religious or charitable endowments based on uninterrupted communal use.

• The 2024 Bill reallocates the responsibility of surveying waqf properties from dedicated survey commissioners to District Collectors.

• The Bill mandates that “an officer above the rank of Collector” survey properties where government ownership is disputed.

• The Bill includes non-Muslims in key waqf institutions and removes the requirement that the Chief Executive Officer of a Waqf Board should be a Muslim.

• To enhance financial oversight, the Bill introduces a centralized registration system for waqf properties.

• The Bill also seeks to repeal Section 107 of the 1995 Act, which allowed Waqf Boards to recover encroached land without being constrained by the Act’s standard limitation period of 12 years.

• The Bill is yet to receive the President’s assent.