Wakf Board Land Scam

Introduction

India is a developing country and to become a developed country every sector in the country is to be developed as well as the per capita income and GDP is to be increased. But a problem which is causing hindrance in the development is corruption in the country. In India the discrepancy between rich and poor is huge and corruption further increases this gap. The Government of India has been working hard to eradicate corruption from India but it remains a major issue. No nation is free from the snare of corruption and bribery. The present article deals with the Wakf Board Land Scam of 2012. The Scam here dealt with the state of Karnataka. This scam is one of the scams in India which was pulled off on a large scale, involving various people including people in power. Wakf in simple words can be referred as property which is donated for a religious or charitable purpose under the Muslim law.

However, corrupt practices are particularly significantly more inescapable in the contemporary developing countries including India which completely disturbs economy, nation and organization to a far more noteworthy degree than on account of developed western social orders. Corruption currently turns out to be nearly institutionalized in the Indian culture, politics and organization which eat into the indispensable of our national life and society. We frequently discover corruption reports in the papers yet the corrupted people couldn’t care less and get off without any penalty. The Indian individuals presently take it as a natural phenomenon and accordingly, it turns out to be practically real. The corrupt issue turns into the request of the day and it appears, corruption is likewise innate in our way of life and profound quality.

There are numerous difficulties to Indian governmental issues, for example, communalism, regionalism, castism, psychological oppression, corruption, linguism and so on putting over the majority rules system in question. Corruption is the most serious risk riding into the veins of our framework.

The article will first deal with the concept of wakf and the purpose for which it can be used. The article further explains how a Wakf Board is formed. The resources of the country which must be used for the benefit of the citizens were used illegally to earn illegal benefits due to this scam.

Wakf and Wakf Board

A wakf under Muslim law is a religious and pious commitment, however, the arrangement is now and then likewise made for charities and to do good oneself, one’s descendants, etc. The root of wakf is followed to an articulation of the Prophet. The articulation is regularly cited and is viewed as the briefest meaning of Wakf – “Tie up the substance and give away the fruit”. Be that as it may, at the beginning of Islam, the law of wakfs experienced extraordinary vulnerability. It was uniquely in the second century after the flight that a group of principles dependent on ijma were created which may be viewed as the premise of the law of wakfs. Immense stretches of land and every single other sort of properties were devoted to wakfs everywhere throughout the world. In India, there are around one lakh wakfs esteemed at over a hundred crores of rupees. Occasions of the misuse of the wakfs are various; the inadequacy and corruption of the mutawallis are shocking and wretched; as a rule, the properties of the wakfs are squandered away.

Under the Muslim law, there are a few religious establishments for which a wakf can be made. Significant among them are takia, graveyard, khanqah, mosque, dargah, and imambara.

History of Wakf

The word wakf signifies ‘detention’. Abu Hanifa indicated through his definition that, the possession in wakf property kept on being vested in the proprietor, and its usufruct was spent for the charitable or pious reason. Likewise, he accepted that the tying up of the property was not perpetual. His two supporters, i.e., Abu Yusuf and Imam Mohammed, had a different view about wakf. However, Muhammed felt that the privilege of the wakf was not smothered until he delegated a mutawalli, while Abu Yusuf took the view that the privilege of the wakif was quenched the minute he made the declaration.

Fundamental Components of Wakf

Abu Yusuf’s definition came to be built up in perspective on the wakf and of the Hanafi School. The meaning of wakf has three fundamental components:

1. It leads to extinguishment of the ownership of wakif;
2. The property is vested permanently and irrevocably under the ownership of God; and
3. The usufruct of the property is utilized to benefit humanity.

The Shia law alternately characterizes a wakf. As indicated by Sharia-ul-Islam, a wakf is an agreement, the fruit or impact of which is to tie up the original of a thing and to leave its usufruct free.

The Wakf Act, 1913

The Wakf Act, 1913, Section 2, defines wakf. In like manner, it implies the lasting devotion by an individual declaring the Mussalman faith of any property for any reason perceived by the Muslim law as religious, pious or charitable. Along these lines the reason must be religious, pious, or charitable, the devotion of property must be perpetual, and the usufruct must be used for the benefit of humanity.

Requirements for creating Wakf

1. A wakf can only be made by a person who has attained majority, i.e., has completed 18 years of age and is of sound mind. A guardian of a minor person cannot make wakf on behalf of such person. Also, a wakf can be made only by a Muslim person.
2. First and foremost, the subject matter of wakf comprised of properties of a permanent nature, for example, land, fields, gardens, and so on. But, step by step a wide range of properties were made the topic of the wakfs. It is fundamental that when a wakf of a property is made it must be under the ownership of the individual making it.
3. Muslim law does not perceive any type of making a wakf. A wakf might be made either in writing or might be oral. There must be suitable words to demonstrate an aim to devote the property. The utilization of the word wakf is neither fundamental nor indisputable. To comprise a wakf it isn’t important that the word ‘wakf’ ought to be utilized. An award to the Kazi is mandatory for the reasons for his performing religious or pious duties comprise a wakf.

Modes for the Formation of Wakf

A few modes for the formation of wakf are:

1. By an act inter vivos– It implies during the lifetime. In this way, a wakf is made during the lifetime of the wakf and comes into play from that very time.
2. By will– It stands in inconsistency with the wakf. It produces results after the passing of the wakf and likewise called testamentary wakf. A wakf by will can’t work upon more than 33% of net resources, without the assent of the beneficiaries.
3. During death sickness (Marz-ul-maut)– The wakf made during the life-threatening disease will work just to the degree of 33% of the property without the assent of the beneficiaries of the wakif.
4. By immemorial user– Wakf might be built up by proof of immemorial user. For example, at the point when the land has been from time immemorial has been used as a graveyard, it is a wakf.

Public and Private Wakf

A wakf can be grouped into two sorts: public and private. While a public wakf is for general charitable purposes, a private wakf is for the property proprietor’s relatives. As indicated by the Wakf Validating Act, 1913, one can make a private wakf for one’s relatives, although the eventual advantages are held for charity.

Mutawalli- Meaning

Mutawalli is one who manages a wakf. He isn’t the proprietor or even a trustee of the property. He is just a superintendent whose activity is the see that the usufructs of the property are being used for a legitimate reason as wanted by the wakif. He needs to see that the proposed recipients are to be getting the advantages. Therefore, he just has constrained power over the usufructs.

Mutawalli- Requirements

An individual who is not a minor, not of unsound mind, and who is equipped for playing out the functions of the wakf as wanted by the wakif can be appointed as a mutawalli. A male or female of any religion can be appointed. If religious duties are a piece of the wakf, then a female or a non-Muslim can’t be appointed.

Appointment of Mutawalli

The power to appoint a mutawalli generally vests with the wakif. He can likewise appoint himself as a mutawalli. If a wakf is made without appointing a mutawalli, in India, the wakf is viewed as legitimate and the wakif turns into the first mutawalli in Sunni law however as per Shia law, although the wakf stays substantial, it must be regulated by the recipients. The wakif additionally can set out the principles to appoint a mutawalli. The sequence wherein the power to select the mutawalli moves if the previous one comes up short is the following:

1. Founder,
2. Executor of the founder, and
3. mutawalli on his death bed.
4. the Court, which ought to follow the rules –
5. It ought not to dismiss the bearings of the wakif but rather public interest must be given more significance.
6. Inclination ought to be given to the relative of the wakif rather than an unknown person.

The Wakf Board is a statutory body that was set up in 1954 for the best possible support and utilization of Islamic structures, establishments and lands in India. The Chairperson heads the board with at most 20 individuals as members. These individuals are appointed by the Central Government. There are wakf boards established in states, as well.

Wakf Board Land Scam

This scam took place in Karnataka where a huge area of land is donated for wakf. The caretakers of rambling wakf estates have been discovered selling the property which was devoted for Muslim charitable purpose, from places of worship to burial grounds, in what could be the greatest land scam in the nation.

Waqf properties, or awqaf as they are called, are spread more than six lakh acres of land the nation over, with an expected market estimation of Rs 1.20 lakh crore, as per the estimation by the Ministry of Minority Affairs.

In Karnataka, charges of a land scam executed by politicians, intermediaries and officers of the state’s Waqf Board have been exhibited in another report that has been presented to the Chief Minister V Sadananda Gowda, who heads the BJP government.

In Karnataka, almost 50% of the 54,000 acres of land that is in the guardianship of the Waqf board has been abused. Property worth an expected Rs. 2 lakh crores has been wrongfully moved to private organizations and individuals. The report says agents, lawmakers and Waqf board authorities intrigued to get this going somewhere during the period of 2001 and 2012.

The property gave to the Waqf board, a charitable trust, is intended to be utilized religious or charitable purposes, like to run a free school or medical clinic. Waqf properties ordinarily are house mosques, dargahs and burial grounds. Property in the guardianship of the Waqf Board can’t be sold or moved without authorization from its authorities.

The BJP government had ordered a committee to present a report after media reports that legislators and Waqf Board authorities were unlawfully offering land to people.

The leader of the Karnataka Minorities Commission, Anwar Manipaddy, presented a report to Chief Minister DV Sadananda Gowda in March 2012.

The report by the Chairman of the Minorities Commission will be partaking in the Karnataka Assembly. The Chief Minister says he will go through the report in the assembly and will discuss the report further. The report which was placed before Chief Minster consisted of 7000 pages. The period secured by the report, 2001-2012, saw various governments in power in Karnataka. However, the report supposedly blames just leaders from Congress, which could harm its validity. The report depicted that the major of the scam was related to the land situated in the city. Around 85 per cent of the land which was involved in the scam was present in city areas.

Manipaddy said he has prescribed the legislature to set up a powerful committee to check degenerate exercises occurring in the Wakf Board and select a team to recover Wakf properties sold wrongfully to “some powerful and influential individuals”.

The committee presented that significant irregularities occurred somewhere in the time range of 2001 and 2012 for the transfer of wakf land to private gatherings through mutation. Mutation is a lawful procedure through which the administration land is transferred or offered to people, organizations, people or firms after a proper legal verification has been done of all the documents. This procedure, sources stated, was outrageously abused while selling or transferring wakf land to private people.

Manippady declined to name the individuals included, yet sources said the report names 38 Congress politicians. Of the wakf board’s 33,741 properties spread over an incredible 54,000 acres of land of enlisted land, 22,000-27,000 sections of land have not been utilized for what they’re intended for.

Individuals from the BBMP standing board on records paid an unexpected visit to the community body’s main records office in March 2012 and were stunned to see that even documents set apart as “urgent” by the Additional Chief Secretary were not even touched and were gathering dust.

Understanding that the workplace was not filling any need, the individuals driven by board administrator AL Shivakumar did what they thought was adept. They just bolted the records area and left. The examination initiated at 1 pm and went on up to 4 pm. Mr. Shivakumar expressed his opinion that there is a plausibility of abuse of assets as income receipts and use don’t coordinate with each other. There is no bank reconciliation report, no trial balance and no computerization of the accounting system. A Cheque for Rs 68 lakh has been issued to agriculture wing without the prior approval of the Commissioner. Plenty of documents were missing. The staff observed defenselessly as they were bolted out.

Then, senior Congress pioneer and previous Karnataka Wakf Minister Roshan Baig requested CBI investigation into the Wakf land scam immediately. The minister expresses his concern by stating that the liable one should be brought to the book.

Congress MLA N. A. Harris said the Manipaddy’s report was a BJP intrigue to defame pioneers hailing from the minority community including Muslims. He believed that Manipaddy does not know anything regarding the minority communities, does not respect such communities and does not know the working of the Wakf Board and its goal.

The Karnataka State Board of Wakf has asked ITC Windsor Hotel in Bangalore, prior known as ITC Windsor Sheraton Hotels, to evacuate the property, even after resolving the matter through mediation between the board, which owns the land, and the company concerned has failed to work out.

The Wakf board asserted that the final order has been conveyed and they are holding back to get notification from ITC, which has the choice to look for a stay on the request. According to the notice, the property has a place with Aga Ali Asker Wakf Estate. The debate was mostly over a low lease, which was Rs 5,500 from the start and was reconsidered to Rs 6 lakh for 1,65,000 sq.ft. of prime land and serving of things like alcohol and pork at the premises, which is not allowed under the Islamic laws.

The land which was donated for charity and religious purpose was used for illegal purpose. The land scam which took place in Karnataka in 2012 has seen a lot of people in power involved in it. The land scam which took place over a long period came into light only in 2012 after the reports made the media. The report which was tabled before the legislative assembly has to be considered in detail to come to a conclusion and take action.

Conclusion

The land scam which started in Karnataka has put the country in jeopardy. The one who must be taking care of the property and discharging the duty but they are the ones who are misusing the power entrusted to them. The property which must provide the benefits to the one in need is used to exploit them. After the land scam in Karnataka came into light many other land scams of wakf board property were uncovered in other parts of the country. Wakf board property was also misused in the state of Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, etc. The wakif who donates any property for the wakf board donates it intending to provide its benefit to the community at large. But the land scam has compromised with this intention.

Corruption is making India hollow by eating it from inside. The impact of corruption can be seen in almost all sectors of the country. Political corruption, it is watched, is at the base of different kinds of corruption in India. It is said that even majority rule government in India depends on corruption. Practically most of the political groups gather funds through indirect accesses. A large portion of the cash is un-evaluated.

Therefore, every part makes bargains and offers favors to various gatherings and mechanical houses while in power. The most noteworthy political establishments have come to be ruled by the personal stakes of the corrupt and criminal components. These components are hindering the working of the popular government and they breed scorn for tradition that must be adhered to. They subvert the working of the establishments as well as ruin the very ethos and character of the country. The government has been taking various steps to eradicate corruption but the problem still exists in the country. The change can be brought in the country only when the citizens of the country also change their point of view and start working towards it with the government.