After amendment Waqf board cannot buy tribal land in Jharkhand

Ranchi, April 2: Amidst raging debate going on in the Parliament on the Waqf Amendment Bill 2025 during the ongoing budget session there is a message for Jharkhand and other states coming under Schedule 5 and 6.

Now a provision has been made in the bill that the Waqf Board will no longer be able to buy tribal land. This has two meanings. The process of buying tribal land and creating property of Waqf Board will end. This will stop the transfer of tribal land. On the other hand, it will be difficult for the Waqf Board to create property in a state like Jharkhand. It will not be possible to expand the land.

Union minority welfare minister Kiren Rijiju, while introducing the Waqf Bill in the Lok Sabha, said that now only any officer above the rank of collector will look into the dispute of government land and any disputed land.

When Waqf creates property, it cannot go to any tribal area and buy land. This provision is of great importance for Jharkhand. There are many other things in the Waqf Act. There will be three members in the Waqf Tribunal. A time limit will be set in its rules so that the cases registered in the tribunal are heard soon and the decision is taken soon.

It should be known here that there are constant complaints of encroachment of Waqf and tribal land in Jharkhand. After the enactment of this Act, this will be curbed.

The condition of Waqf Board in Jharkhand is not good. All the governments formed in Jharkhand after the formation of the state ignored the Waqf Board. The result of this is that the Sunni Waqf Board should have been formed in Jharkhand immediately after the formation of the state. But it was formed after eight years.

It should have been reconstituted after five years. But it was reconstituted in 2014. At the end of 2014, the Welfare Department reconstituted the board by nominating its members, but no initiative was taken for the election of the chairman. As a result, the board continued to run without a chairman for five years.

After 2019, the Waqf Board remained inactive for a long time. Later, the state government made MP Sarfaraz Ahmed its chairman. According to the rules, Jharkhand minority welfare ministry nominates members in the Waqf Board and the nominated members have to elect the chairman. But even after three years have passed, leave alone the chairman, even the members have not been nominated.

There is no audited data of how much revenue Jharkhand State Sunni Waqf Board receives annually. If the board is to be believed, out of 152 Waqf properties in the state, only 20-22 properties receive revenue in a year. That too in an irregular manner.

According to the Jharkhand Waqf Board administration, if seven percent revenue was received regularly every year from all the Waqf properties in the state, then the estimated amount would have been at least Rs 25 lakhs per year. According to this, the Waqf Board would have received revenue of about Rs 3.5 crores in 14 years. Some properties of the Waqf Board are also under illegal occupation.