56th Meeting of the Central Wakf Council held under the Chairmanship of Shri Salman Khurshid

INVC,,

56th meeting of the Central Wakf Council was held here today under the Chairmanship of Shri Salman Khurshid, Minister of Minority Affairs, who is also the Chairman of this statutory. Later, Shri Khurshid briefed the media about the important decisions taken at today’s meeting. He told that the Central Wakf Council has decided to request the Prime Minister to convene a conference of all the Chief Ministers and State Ministers, In-charge of Wakf, to settle all pending issues related to Wakfs. The Prime Minister will also be requested to send a letter to all the Chief Ministers on the pattern that was sent by the late Prime Minister, Smt. Indira Gandhi, on March 26, 1976, wherein she had suggested to them a quick settlement of the disputes/ encroachments on Wakf properties.

Shri Salman Khurshid said that the Council welcomed the in- principle approval received from the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development for the establishment of 3 Universities on Wakf land on a Public- Private Partnership basis for the benefit of educationally backward among minorities.. The Minister of Minority Affairs said that the concept of this new model for a Central University is being legally examined. The proposed Universities are to be established at Ajmer (Rajasthan), Mysore (Karnataka) and Kishanganj (Bihar).

On the complaint that in the ongoing survey of Wakf properties, large number of Wakf properties including mosques, Idgahs, qabristans, etc. are being ignored, it was decided that the Central Wakf Council shall release advertisements in the local language newspapers in the country requesting general public to draw the attention of the Survey Commissioners towards such cases, if in their knowledge and also inform the Central Wakf Council, if it is not taken care of by the Survey Commissioners.

On the report that there is a move in Punjab to de-notify and de-mutate the Wakf properties already registered on the basis of survey done by the Punjab Government between 1961 and 1970, the Central Wakf Council took stand that these properties cannot be denotified and demutated now after a gap of forty years. It noted that for the redressal of individual grievances, there is already a proper provision in the Wakf Act, 1995 and in Civil Procedure Code under which individuals have been contesting. It was decided that the Chairman, Central Wakf Council, in his capacity as Minister would take up the matter with the Government of Punjab and also with the Union Home Ministry.

The Central Wakf Council meeting also took note of the launch of the in-service training of officers/ staff of the 29 Wakf Boards in legal, administrative and financial matters in collaboration with RCVP Noronha Academy of Administration and Management, Bhopal.

Central Wakf Council is a Statutory Body constituted by the Government of India under Wakf Act, 1995 to advise it on matters pertaining to working of the State Wakf Boards and proper administration of Wakfs in the country. The Council functions as a nodal agency in Wakf matters.