WAKFS

Shahabuddin, National Convener, Insaf Morcha: Statement

On Payment of Salaries to Imams, 4 January, 1996

The scheme formulated by the Government of India and submitted to the Supreme Court in implementation of its judgement of October 1993 places the responsibility of 4. payment of the emoluments of Imams and Muezzins of Masjids on the State Wakf Boards constituted under the Wakf Act.

Every Masjid has its own sources of income in terms of Wakf properties and donations from the congregation. It is inconceivable that the functionaries of all Masjids in the country can be treated alike or enjoy the same terms. Under the Wakf Act, the Wakf Boards merely supervise the management of Wakfs; they do not administer or manage the Wakf properties. The income from the wakf properties is received, collected and used for the purposes of the wakf by the wakf authorities who pay 6 per cent of their net income to the Board after fulfilling purposes of the Wakf The State Wakf Boards have no other source of income; they do not receive any grant from the Central or State Governments and are, with the exception of the Punjab and Delhi Wakf Boards, financially bankrupt and not in a position even to meet their own office expenditure.

The question, therefore, arises why the responsibility for appointing and paying the functionaries of the Masjids be shifted from the Mutawallis/ Managing Committees of the Masjids and/or the wakf attached thereto, to the State Wakf Boards. The Board has no statutory authority to manage or administer a Masjid except when a Mutawalli is superseded or where there is no Mutawalli as in the case of many Masjids in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi.

Another and more important question arises as to why the Government should not take necessary and feasible steps to raise the income of the Wakf properties which would automatically benefit the functionaries of the Masjids to a large extent.  The income of the wakf properties can be raised manifold by taking the following steps:

1.      Bringing the Public Wakfs under the purview of the Public Premises (Vacation of Illegal Occupations) Act so that unlawful occupation of or encroachment on Wakf properties can be easily vacated and such properties can become a source of income.

2.      Exempting the Public Wakfs from the purview of the rent control laws so that the wakf authorities can refix the rents which were fixed decades ago.

3.      Exempting the Public Wakfs from the purview of agricultural and urban land ceiling or acquisition laws so that the wakf properties are not whittled down.

Vacating all the wakf properties which are unauthorisedly occupied by the Government itself or its attached or subordinate offices or Government- controlled institutions. It is recalled that Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi had drawn the attention of the Chief Ministers to this aspect but to little effect.

Unfortunately, the recently passed Wakf Act 1995 does not provide for any of the above steps. The Act should be amended, as promised by the Minister of Welfare on the floor of the Parliament, and wherever necessary, executive instructions should be issued by the Central and the State Governments, if the Government is indeed serious about raising the income of the Wakfs so that the functionaries of the Masjids are well-paid throughout the country.

Paying the Imams

Editorial, The Indian Express, 4 January, 1996

The scheme of waqf boards paying the salaries of the imams attached to their mosques announced by the Union Welfare Minister, Mr. Sitaram Kesri, is unlikely to succeed because most of the boards cannot even pay salaries to their own regular staff.

The only commendable aspect of the scheme is that the Centre has steered clear of any financial commitment in its implementation. At one time, it toyed with the idea neither the Muslim community, which saw it as an un- of paying the imams from the State exchequer. However, Islamic practice, nor mainstream public opinion, which could not understand how a secular state could take such a responsibility, endorsed the idea. Except for some of the imams who would have benefited, the Muslims also nursed the apprehension that such a system was a prelude to the Government's interference in their religious affairs. The fear that the BJP would project it as yet another instance of appeasement of the minorities also forced the Government to retrace its steps. While nothing concrete will emerge from the new scheme. the Muslim responsibility to provide necessary financial support to community must realize that it cannot shirk it’s the imams. However, neither the court nor the Government can do much in this regard.