By Abu Zafar, India Tomorrow,
New Delhi/Jaipur, 08 Dec 2013: Rajasthan has become one the few states in India to officially admit it has encroached upon wakf properties (properties endowed by Muslims for welfare of the community), with the state government allocating Rs 3 crore in the 2013-14 budget as rent for 34 of 63 properties occupied by its various departments since 1970.
However, the government is yet to adopt a mechanism to pay the rent on a regular basis. More importantly, it has not yet given a word about pending rent for 29 other encroached wakf properties.
In 2010 it was revealed through an application under the Right to Information Act that at least 63 wakf properties have been encroached by various government departments across the state of Rajasthan. Since then Muslim leaders had been demanding the government to free these properties and pay rent according to market rate.
The rent of 34 properties (from 1970 to 2012) was estimated to be Rs 3,57,97,917. The government was supposed to allocate the amount in the 2012-13 budget but it announced only in 2013-14 budget and paid the amount a few months ago.
What is interesting to note here is that the amount was not paid by occupying departments but it was allocated in the state budget. Anyway, the state wakf board had to do lots of hard work to get the amount.
Liaqat Ali Khan, chairman of the Rajasthan Wakf Board, says it was a tough job to get the amount. “It was very tough to get the amount,” Khan told India Tomorrow. He is hopeful he would get the amount for the remaining properties also.
“I am hopeful that we will get the remaining amount soon,” Khan added.
The rent for 34 properties from 1st April 2012 till date is still pending and rent for 29 other properties still have to be given by the government.
India has more than 4.9 lakh registered wakf properties Wakf properties are spread over 6 lakh acres Book value of wakf properties is about Rs 6,000 crores Current value of wakf properties in Delhi alone is in excess of Rs. 60 billion
“We have written to the government but didn’t get any amount apart from Rs 3 crore, allocated in the budget 2013-14,” the wakf board chairman informed India Tomorrow.
Khan said that the board has got the rent revised on market rates.
“We have done an assessment through Public Works Department (PWD) on current reasonable rent of properties,” he informed. “From now on every department will pay its rent separately,” he added.
Khan says that the board is working hard to get the remaining properties free from government encroachment.
“It is in the process but we don’t have any deadline,” he said.
According to the state wakf board there are at least 23,000 wakf properties, including mosques, dargahs, madrasas / schools, markets, musafirkhanas, graveyards and Wakf Residential Colonies, spread across the state of Rajasthan.
According to the Sachar Committee Report:
· More than 4.9 lakh registered Wakfs spread over different states and union territories of India.
· The total area under Wakf properties all over India is estimated at about 6 lakh acres and the book value at about Rs 6,000 crores.
· A recent estimate of the current value of Wakf properties in Delhi alone is in excess of Rs. 6,000 Crores (Rs. 60 billion).
· A good number of the Wakf properties in urban areas are found to be located in city centres where the current value is many times more than the book value.
· The current annual income from these properties is only about Rs. 163 crores, which amounts to a meagre rate of return of 2.7 per cent.
· The current market value of the Wakf properties can be put at Rs. 1.2 lakh crores (1,200 billion).
Given the number of value of wakf properties and the pathetic condition of the Muslim community, many suggest wakf properties should be developed for revenue generation and the amount could be used for uplifting the economic status of the community.
If the wakf properties are put to efficient and marketable use they can generate at least a minimum return of 10 per cent which is about Rs. 12,000 crores per annum.
If some of these Wakf properties situated in prime locations across the country are developed and put to commercial use, their market value and annual income will shoot up.
The enhanced Wakf income could be utilized to upgrade the educational status and improve other human development dimensions of the beneficiaries of Wakfs.
