Supreme Court turns down plea for more time to upload details of waqf on portal

The Supreme Court on Monday turned down pleas seeking more time for waqf (Islamic charitable endowments) registration on a central portal. It said the Waqf (Amendment) Act passed this year provides for the extension of time by approaching a tribunal.

“Our attention has been drawn to Section 3B(1) proviso. Since the remedy before the tribunal is available, we allow the petitioners to approach the tribunal,” said a bench of justices Dipankar Datta and AG Masih.

Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the applicants seeking additional time, cited glitches in the portal and said the details could not be uploaded.

The Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency, and Development portal was launched on June 6 as a single digital platform to streamline the waqf management by ensuring real-time data collection and open access to verified information. The six-month period for registration of the properties expires on December 6.

Sibal said six months are too short to gather and upload the details. “If this order is to be followed, then about 10 lakh [one million] mutawallis [custodians] have to go to the tribunal. We want to comply, but we want to tell the court the impossibility that we are facing.”

The bench noted that Section 3B(1) was not among the provisions of the law that the Supreme Court stayed in September. “How can we rewrite the judgment when the statute provides for a remedy. This was a matter thrashed out before the court at the interim stage.”

Singhvi told the court that the glitches pointed out can be looked into. Some state governments also informed the court about problems in uploading the waqf details.

The court said somebody may have genuine causes, but those who sit idly will also get the benefit.

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Union government, said that no glitches were pointed out and nearly 100,000 waqfs have been registered. He said that compulsory registration of all waqfs, including by-user, has been in place since 1929. Mehta added that the time limit is fixed and Section 3B(1) has not been stayed.

On September 15, the court stayed crucial provisions of the law, including the criteria for waqf creation by a person who has practiced Islam for five years.

Sibal said that the details to be uploaded include identification, details of boundaries, their use and occupier, names and addresses of the creators of the waqf, mode and date of such creation, deeds, etc. He added that this requires documents, as some properties are even 100 years old.

The All India Personal Law Board and Parliament member Asaduddin Owaisi were among those who filed applications for more time.

Source: HindustanTimes
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