NEW DELHI – A total of 8.72 lakh immovable and 16,713 movable Waqf properties are registered nationwide under the Waqf Act, 1954 and the subsequent Waqf Act, 1995, the Parliament was informed on Monday.
Minister of Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju, in a written reply, told the Rajya Sabha that as per the information available on the Waqf Assets Management System of India portal, which is entered by the respective State Waqf Boards, 8,72,352 immovable and movable 16,713 waqf properties exist in the country.
Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of 2,32,547 immovable properties registered on the WAMSI. It has 2,17,161 Sunni properties and 15,386 Shia properties, according to the data shared by the Minister. West Bengal has the next highest number of 80,480 Aaqf properties, the Minister said, adding that Punjab has 75,965 wWqf properties.
Tamil Nadu had the next highest 66,092 immovable properties. In terms of movable properties, Tamil Nadu has a maximum of 8,605 entries on the WAMSI. In reply to a question by Dr John Brittas of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Minister said,” As per the information available on the WAMSI portal, 994 waqf properties have been shown as alienated.”
A bulk of the alienated properties are located in Tamil Nadu (734) and Andhra Pradesh (152), he said. Sharing details about properties that have been reported as alienated and measures taken to recover them, the Minister said, “Section 51(1-A) of the Waqf Act provides that any sale, gift, exchange, mortgage or transfer of the waqf property shall be void ab initio.”
“Additionally, Section 52 of the Waqf Act states that if the Board, after conducting any inquiry in the prescribed manner, determines that any waqf property has been alienated, it may send a requisition to the Collector, within whose jurisdiction the property is located, to take possession of the property and deliver it to the Board. As per the information available on the WAMSI portal, 994 waqf properties have been shown as alienated,” he said. -IANS
