Supreme Court To Hear Transfer Plea on Validity of Waqf Act [Read Petition]

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court is set to hear on Monday a transfer petition filed by BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay for shifting his plea against the validity of Waqf Act, 1995 from the Delhi High Court to the Supreme Court.

Upadhyay claimed a similar plea, along with 55 connected matters, is already pending for final hearing before the apex court.

A bench of Justices K M Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy is expected to consider the matter on September 19.

The petition claimed the transfer was necessary to avoid multiplicity of litigations and conflicting views on the interpretation of Articles 14-15, 25-26 and 29-30 of the Constitution.

"The 1995 Act is made under the garb of managing waqf properties but there are no similar laws for followers of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Judaism, Bahaism, Zoroastrianism and Christianity. Hence, it is against the secularism, unity and integrity of the nation," the plea said.

It further said the Waqf is not mentioned anywhere in the Constitution. However, if the Act is enacted to secure fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 25-26, then it must be in consonance with Articles 14-15.

It also said the Centre cannot make Tribunals arbitrarily beyond the scope of Articles 323A323B, but if the impugned Act is enacted under Article 245 and Entry-97 of the List-1 of Schedule-7, then the Tribunal has to perform in consonance with Articles 14-15.

Moreover, the Religious Endowment Act 1863, Indian Trustees Act 1866, Indian Trust Act 1882, Charitable Endowment Act 1890, Official Trustees Act 1913 and Charitable and Religious Act 1990 are made to manage trusts and religious endowments of all communities. But rather than unifying them and making a Uniform Code for Trust and Trustees, Charities and Charitable Institutions, Charitable and Religious Endowments and Religious Institution, Centre has arbitrarily enacted the religion-biased Act against the basic structure of the Constitution, it claimed.

Referring to anachronistic situation, the petitioner said the Waqf Board which has Muslim MLA, Muslim MP, Muslim IAS Officer, Muslim Town Planner, Muslim Advocate, Muslim Scholar, Mutawallis, who are paid from the public exchequer, though Centre and States doesnt collect even one rupee from any Mosque Mazar and Dargah.

On the other hand, Centre and States collect around one Lakh Crore rupees from four lakh temples but there are no similar provisions for Hindus. Thus, the Act offends Article 27 also, it said.

The provisions granted special status to Waqf properties and conferred unbridled powers to the Waqf Boards to register any property as Waqf property, denying equal status to Trust, Mutts, Akharas and the societies.

The approximate number of registered Waqf properties in India is stated to be 6.6 lakhs and accounts for around eight lakh acres of land throughout the country and this makes Waqfs the third largest landholder after the Railways and Ministry of Defense.

In last 10 years, Waqf boards have rapidly captured the lands of others and declared those properties as Waqf property. The result is that at present 6,59,877 properties according to data released by Waqf Management System of India (WAMSI) up to July 2020, have been registered as Waqf property. It is estimated that 6,59,877 properties registered so far cover around 8 lakhs acres of land, the plea claimed.

Besides, the 1995 law gave unlimited power to the Waqf Board to recover any property in the name of Waqf whereas on the other hand, the remedy to recover properties belonging to Hindus Jains Buddhists Sikhs and others is barred after a particular period of time.

[Read Petition]