Waqf Bill based on recommendations of 2006 panel: Bindal

State BJP president Rajeev Bindal today said that the Waqf Amendment Bill was based on the recommendations of a committee set up in 2006 to look into reforms required in the law.

In a statement issued here, Bindal said that the proposed amendment Bill should be looked at objectively as it was for the betterment of the Waqf Board. “A committee set up in 2006 had presented a report recommending reforms, which were never undertaken,” he added.

Bindal said, “The Sachar Committee gave its report in 2006 and after that a Joint Parliamentary Committee presented its report in 2008. It was found that there were huge encroachments on the properties and land of the Waqf Board and its income was continuously on the decline.”

He said that in 2013, the then Congress government had made some changes to the law, which it thought were for the betterment of the Waqf Board, but at the same time some amendments reduced the participation of women and others in it. The Waqf Amendment Bill, which was presented in Parliament today, would greatly benefit the Waqf properties in the country, he added.

Bindal said that the main objective of the Bill was to separate private trusts from the Waqf Board. “Private trusts have become more important than the Waqf Board. In view of this, there was an urgent need to digitize all its properties using technology and bring these under the control of the Central Waqf Board so that there is no misappropriation of properties,” he added.

He said that giving rights to women in the family Waqf and their control over the Waqf properties with transparency was a very important aspect of this amendment Bill. The properties of the Muslim community should be properly maintained and efforts should be made to increase their income, he added.