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Central Waqf Council

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Central Waqf Council is an Indian statutory body established in 1964 by the Government of India under the Waqf Act, 1954 (now a subsection of the Waqf Act, 1995) for the purpose of advising it on matters pertaining to the working of the State Waqf Boards and proper administration of the Waqfs in the country. Waqf is a permanent dedication of movable or immovable properties for religious, pious or charitable purposes as recognized by Muslim Law, given by philanthropists.

Quotes

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  • “This was done because the West Bengal government inexplicably gave OBC certificates to Muslims, only for the Muslim vote bank. This vote bank politics, this politics of appeasement, is crossing every limit,” the prime minister stated. He further added: “They say that Muslims have the first right on the country’s resources. These people are continuously giving government lands to the Waqf Board and asking for votes in return. These people want to reserve 15% of the country’s budget for minorities. They also want to give loans from banks and government tender based on religion. These people are opposing CAA to please their vote bank.”
  • "The issue of Waqf land has been affecting people across communities. I feel pained to see eminent Christian leaders having to express their anguish in this manner. I assure them that their grievances will be addressed," Rijiju wrote on September 28. He also expressed confidence in the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC).
  • “When the Constitution was drafted in 1950, the term ‘waqf’ was not even included. The Waqf Act was created in 1954 under the pretext of protecting the land of Muslims who migrated to Pakistan after the partition. According to an amendment made in 1995, the waqf can claim any land it considers its own. Other communities residing there for years cannot file a complaint in any court and can only rely on the waqf tribunal, which consists solely of Muslim members,” Minister Karandlaje said adding that in 1954, the Waqf Board had not more than 10,000 acres of land but now it has nearly 3.8 million acres.
  • Meanwhile, BJP MP and chairman of the JPC committee on Waqf (Amendment) Bill, Jagdambika Pal highlighted that this bill is for the betterment of Waqf. “This will end the row. Kerala’s thousands years old church was declared as Waqf. Properties of many places were given to Waqf. The new parliament was declared as Waqf property. So, it means that this bill will end this controversy,” he emphasised.
    “While many Muslim clerics are supporting this bill, All India Muslim Personal Law Board is objecting to it. On the day of ‘Alvida Namaz’ they asked people to wear black arm bands in protest against this bill, and even today, on Eid, they have appealed to people to protest against it. But why,” he questioned.
    “First, let the amended law come. Today, Muslims are thanking PM Modi for Saugat-e-Modi. While we are talking of ‘Sabka saath, sabka vikas’ Congress, Owaisi and AIMPLB are looking at Muslims as a vote bank, doing appeasement. 1.25 crore people have sent their representation on this bill. We even heard people from all over the country, including Jammu and Kashmir’s Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. The bill will be tabled on the date BAC (Business Advisory Committee) gives,” Pal noted.
    • Jagdambika Pal 2025, quoted in [1][2]
  • Once Waqf, always Waqf.
    • Justice Dr Anand. verbatim exclamation of the Supreme Court in its 1998 judgment, case no. 4372 SCR 398. https://www.wamsi.nic.in/wamsi/legis/SCJudgement_ OnceWaqfAlwaysWaqf.pdf and in (2023.) Hindus in Hindu Rashtra : Eighth-Class Citizens and Victims of State-Sanctioned Apartheid. by Anand Ranganathan chapter 3
  • ‘Waqf is a voluntary, permanent and irrevocable dedication of a portion of one’s wealth, in cash or kind, to Allah. Once a Waqf, it never gets gifted, inherited or sold. It belongs to Allah and the corpus of the Waqf always remains intact. The fruits of the Waqf may be utilised for any shariah-compliant purpose.’
  • Waqf is the third-largest landowner in India, after Defence and the Railways, with much of its landholding, rather amusingly, pre-independence—an endowment of the insidious give and take between the British and the Muslims they desired to pacify. Indeed, many of the Waqf landholdings go as far back as 1857. Seventy-seven percent of Delhi is on Waqf land, including the Delhi High Court. Central Vista, which has recently been renovated, and on whose hallowed turf new government buildings will shimmer and glisten, is on Waqf land. CGO Complex and Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium are on Waqf land. Only three things are certain in an Indian’s life—death, taxes, and that, knowingly or unknowingly, he ends up walking every day on Waqf land.
    • (2023.) Hindus in Hindu Rashtra : Eighth-Class Citizens and Victims of State-Sanctioned Apartheid. by Anand Ranganathan chapter 3
  • What this means is, that the Waqf can lay claim to and recover any property it wishes to without having to worry about the passage of time. The Waqf, as you would have realised by now, is a parallel government, wholly sanctioned by our own government. It has, through its overarching board, its own legislature; through its surveyors and estate and compliance officers its own executive; and through its tribunal its own judiciary. And through this Act, through its application, a message
    • (2023.) Hindus in Hindu Rashtra : Eighth-Class Citizens and Victims of State-Sanctioned Apartheid. by Anand Ranganathan chapter 3
  • It is this message that allows Muslims, even rational, logical and educated Muslims, to claim that the Gyanwapi Mosque built atop the grand Kashi Vishwanath temple is on Waqf land.72 So, was the grand Kashi Vishwanath Temple demolished by Aurangzeb and as confirmed through his own certified biography, Masir-e-Alamgiri, also on Waqf land? It is this message that allows Muslims to claim that the 1,500-year-old iconic Manendiyavalli Chandrashekhara Swami Temple in Tamil Nadu is on Waqf land.73 I ask you—how can a 1,500-year-old Hindu temple be adjudged by Waqf to be on Islamic land when Islam is only 1,300 years old?
    • (2023.) Hindus in Hindu Rashtra : Eighth-Class Citizens and Victims of State-Sanctioned Apartheid. by Anand Ranganathan chapter 3
  • Waqf is an institution for religious and charitable purposes. Muslims have the constitutional right to manage their own religious affairs because Waqf property belongs to Allah.
    • Kalyan Banerjee 2025, [3]

Waqf Act, 1995

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  • ‘Subject to the provisions of this Act and the rules made thereunder, the District Magistrate or in his absence an Additional District Magistrate or Sub-Divisional Magistrate of a District in the State shall be responsible for implementation of the decisions of the Board, which may be conveyed through the Chief Executive Officer, and the Board may, wherever it considers necessary, seek directions from the Tribunal for the implementation of its decisions.’
  • ‘Decision if a property is Waqf property-(l) The Board may itself collect information regarding any property which it has reason to believe to be Waqf property and if any question arises whether a particular property is Waqf property or not, or whether a Waqf is a Sunni Waqf or a Shia Waqf, it may, after making such inquiry as it may deem fit, decide the question. (2) The decision of the Board on a question under sub-section (1) shall, unless revoked or modified by the Tribunal, be final. (3) Where the Board has any reason to believe that any property of any trust or society registered in pursuance of the Indian Trusts Act, 1882 or under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 or under any other Act, is Waqf property, the Board may, notwithstanding anything contained in such Act, hold an inquiry in regard to such property and if after such inquiry the Board is satisfied that such property is Waqf property, call upon the trust or society, as the case may be, either to register such property under this Act as Waqf property or show cause why such property should not be so registered provided that in all such cases notice of the action proposed to be taken under this sub-section shall be given to the authority by whom the trust or society had been registered. (4) The Board shall, after duly considering such cause as may be shown in pursuance of notice issued under sub-section (3), pass such orders as it may think fit and the order so made by the Board, shall be final, unless it is revoked or modified by a Tribunal.’
  • ‘Removal of encroachment from Waqf property(1) Whenever the Chief Executive Officer considers whether on receiving any complaint or on his own motion that there has been an encroachment on any land, building, space or other property which is Waqf property and, which has been registered as such under this Act, he shall cause to be served upon the encroacher a notice specifying the particulars of the encroachment and calling upon him to show cause before a date to be specified in such notice, as to why an order requiring him to remove the encroachment before the date so specified should not be made and shall also send a copy of such notice to the concerned mutawalli. (2) The notice referred to in sub section (1) shall be served in such manner as may be prescribed. (3) If, after considering the objections, received during the period specified in the notice, and after conducting an inquiry in such manner as may be prescribed, the Chief Executive Officer is satisfied that the property in question is Waqf property and that there has been an encroachment on any such Waqf property, he may, make an application to the Tribunal for grant of order of eviction for removing such encroachment and deliver possession of the land, building, space or other property encroached upon to the mutawalli of the Waqf. (4) The Tribunal, upon receipt of such application from the Chief Executive Officer, for reasons to be recorded therein, make an order of eviction directing that the Waqf property shall be vacated by all persons who may be in occupation thereof or any part thereof, and cause a copy of the order to be affixed on the outer door or some other conspicuous part of the Waqf property: Provided that the Tribunal may before making an order of eviction, give an opportunity of being heard to the person against whom the application for eviction has been made by the Chief Executive Officer. (5) If any person refuses or fails to comply with the order of eviction within forty-five days from the date of affixture of the order under sub-section (2), the Chief Executive Officer or any other person duly authorised by him in this behalf may evict that person from, and take possession of, the Waqf property.’
    • Waqf Act, 1995. Section 54 https://www.indiacode.nic.in/show-data?actid=AC_ CEN_44_74_00001_199543_1517807323904&sec-tionld=10398&sectionno=54 &orderno=56 and in (2023.) Hindus in Hindu Rashtra : Eighth-Class Citizens and Victims of State-Sanctioned Apartheid. by Anand Ranganathan chapter 3
  • No suit or other legal proceeding shall lie in any civil court in respect of any dispute, question or other matter relating to any Waqf, Waqf property, or other matter which is required by or under this Act to be determined by a Tribunal.’
  • ‘Act 36 of 1963 will not apply for recovery of Waqf properties. Nothing contained in the Limitation Act, 1963 shall apply to any suit for possession of immovable property comprised in any Waqf or for possession of any interest in such property.’


Outlines of Muhammadan Law

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Asaf Ali Asghar Fyzee, Outlines of Muhammadan Law, quoted in [4]
  • The importance of the institution will be better understood if we take into consideration the enormous extent of waqf/land or, the possessions of the Dead Hand, in the various countries of Islam. In the Turkey of 1925, three-fourths of the arable land, estimated at 50,000,000 Turkish pounds, was endowed as waqf.
  • At the end of the 19th century, one-half of the cultivable land in Algiers was dedicated. Similarly, in Tunis one-third and in Egypt one-eighth, of the cultivated soil was ‘in the ownership of God’. But it was already realised by the beginning of the 20th century, first by France and later in Turkey and Egypt, that the institution of waqf was in some respects a challenge to the natural growth and development of the national economy.
  • We must consider briefly the advantages and disadvantages of the institution. The religious motive of waqf is the origin of the legal fiction that waqf property belongs to Almighty God; the economic ruin that it brings about is indicated by the significant phrase The Dead Hand.’ Waqf to some extent ameliorates poverty, but it has also (another) side. When a father provides a certain income for his children and descendants, the impulse to seek education and the initiative to improve their lot gradually decrease.
  • Charitable aid often keeps people away from industry, and lethargy breeds degeneration. Furthermore, some people who desire fame by making foundations and endowments obtain property by shady means, amounting even to extortion and exploitation. Agricultural land deteriorates in the course of time; no one is concerned with keeping it in good trim; the yield lessens, and even perpetual leases come to be recognised. In India, instances of the mismanagement of waqfs and of the destruction of waqf have often reached the courts.
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