LUCKNOW: After the passage of Waqf Amendment Bill in Parliament, Uttar Pradesh government is getting ready to chalk out new guidelines to regulate the Waqf Boards– Shia Central Waqf Board and Sunni Central Waqf Board– which will be reconstituted in consonance with the newly-passed Bill.Moreover, the state government will upload the details of all the properties under Waqf Board on the website of Minority Welfare department after getting them verified by mandatory audit.As per minister of state for minority welfare, Muslim Waqf and Haj Danish Azad Ansari, the Waqf Amendment Bill would bring in more transparency by making audit of the Waqf properties mandatory and curb any corrupt practices.While interacting with media persons, the minister claimed that the Waqf Amendment Act was a crucial step for changing India. It was not the first amendment by any government, in 1954, 1995 and in 2013 also, there were amendments to the Waqf Act.The minister said that it was a wrong notion among the Muslims that Waqf Board was a religious body. It is an administrative body. The minister said that with the passage of the Bill, the focus now would be to implement all the rules and regulations and most of them were available previously also. There was a provision for auditing as well, but it was not done.Now the waqf properties would be verified by the mandatory audit, he added. “The fight is between ‘special’ vs ‘common’ Muslim. Those opposing the Bill are doing it for their vested interest, they have nothing to do with the welfare of backward Muslims,” Ansari added.As per official information, of the total 2,32,547 properties registered with Waqf in UP, 57792 are government properties. Of the 2,32,547 total waqf properties, UP Shia Central Waqf Board owns 15386 properties and rest 2,17,161 are owned by UP Sunni Central Waqf Board. Moreover, many enemy and private properties have also been registered as that belonging to Waqf.
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