Question : Managing Waqf Properties

(a) whether the Government has launched a programme for cent percent geo tagging and digitalisation of Waqf properties across the country and if so, the details thereof including its objectives;

(b) the number of Waqf properties across the country, State-wise;

(c) whether the Government has received the report of the committee to review Waqf properties lease rule;

(d) if so, the major recommendations of the Committee and the time by which action will be initiated on the said recommendations;

(e) whether the Central Waqf Council(CWC) is providing financial help to State Waqf Boards for digitalisation of Waqf records and if so, the details thereof including assistance provided during the last three years; and

(f) whether CWC has provided video conferencing facilities to State Waqf Boards and if so, the details thereof?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF MINORITY AFFAIRS

(SHRI MUKHTAR ABBAS NAQVI)


(a): Yes, Sir. The work of GIS Mapping of waqf propertiesby the State Waqf Boards (SWBs) and IIT, Roorkee and AMU, Aligarh is being carried out effectively and progressively in various states with a goal to digitize 100% of the waqf properties. The GIS Mapping of the waqf properties would help in identification and removal of encroachment from these properties.
In respect of digitalization of waqf properties, in the last five years, major work has been completed on a war-footing manner (85% so far) and State Waqf Boards (SWBs) have been directed to complete the remaining work on top priority. Financial assistance for carrying out GIS Mapping work and digitization of waqf properties has been provided to SWBs through Central Waqf Council (CWC) which is Implementing Agency of the scheme.

(b): This Ministry has developed Waqf Management System of India (WAMSI) portal for entering data of waqf properties. So far, State Waqf Boards have entered 5,81,799 immovable waqf properties in WAMSI registration module as on 30.06.2019. State-wise details of immovable waqf properties are available on the WAMSI portal at wamsi.nic.in.

(c) & (d): In order to assess the impact of the Waqf Properties Lease Rules 2014 on the ground and examine the challenges faced in its implementation, a Committee headed by Justice (Retd.) Zakiullah Khan, was constituted by this Ministry on 07.03.2018. Major recommendations made by the Committee in its report submitted on 17/01/2019 include: enhancement of the cut-off of rental value for giving advertisement in Newspapers from Rs.1000/- per month to Rs.3000/- per month; Reduction in the reserve price from 2.5% of market value to 1.5% in case of leasing of waqf properties for commercial activities and from 2% to 1% in case of properties for hospitals, educational institutions and social sectors; fixation of reserve price of 1% in case of properties for agricultural purposes; enhancement in the duration of lease from 5 years to 10 years for shops and from 1 year to 3 years for agriculture land; one time relaxation for occupants of waqf properties since 1995 with condition to clear their past arrears and so on. Now the comments from the union ministries and state governments on these recommendations are being obtained.

(e): Yes Sir. Financial assistance under the scheme is released to SWBs for maintenance of Centralized Computing Facility (CCF) to help them to complete data entry and digitization of records of waqf properties, GIS Mapping, augmenting strength of personnel deployed in SWBs, capacity building of Muttawallis, office automation and so on. During the last three years, an amount of Rs.11.82 crore has been released to 28 SWBs.

(f): Yes Sir, video conferencing facilities have been provided to 20 SWBs in the last two years i.e. Bihar (Sunni), Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Maharashtra, Tamilnadu, Uttar Pradesh (Sunni), West Bengal, Andaman & Nicobar Island, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar (Shia), Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Tripura and Uttarakhand.

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