By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: After the confrontation between a section of Muslim civil society and Salman Khursheed the Union Minister for Minority Affairs, over the issue of a separate Wakf cadre, now Wajahat Habibullah, chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has backed the proposal of “Wakf Civil Services,” a separate Wakf cadre on all India level to manage Wakf properties.
Habibullah has written a letter to Khursheed, supporting the separate cadre and recommending the government to expeditiously implement the proposal. The NCM wrote this letter after it was approached by Zakat Foundation of India regarding the creation of Wakf Civil Services, which was also a recommendation of the Sachar Committee.
In a letter dated November 30, 2011, written to Salman Khursheed, Habibullah said that “It is universally agreed that the wealth of India’s Wakf properties, the benefits of which should ideally have flowed to those in need…has with some exceptions been subject to mismanagement.”
In the letter, a copy of which is in possession of TwoCircles.net, the NCM Chief also highlighted that a separate Wakf cadre was actually the recommendation of Sachar committee. “The recommendations of Sachar committee have not been disputed: hence the NCM’s recommendation for its expeditious adoption and implementation by the government.”
Habibullah informed the Union Minister that the Commission has “decided to endorse the suggestion of the Zakat Foundation of India for consideration of the government, emphasizing that any such service should, in keeping with the character of an All India Service, be open to all irrespective of community.”
According to the Justice Rajinder Sachar Committee report, Wakf boards across India have land holdings of more than 6 lakh acres with the market value of more than 1.2 lakh crore; but Wakf manages to generate just 163 crore, meager in comparison to its potential earning more than 12, 000 crore. According to the report, the malady lies in “bad laws and maladministration.”
To correct this mess and for the better management of the state wakf boards and Central Wakf Council, the report recommended formation of a dedicated wakf cadre of “Group-A” officers on the line of civil services. The committee felt that at least 200 “Group-A” officers were required to manage Wakf affairs in the country.
“The government may, therefore, consider creating a new cadre of officers to be recruited by the UPSC so that they can deal with the specific affairs of the Wakfs efficiently. Such officers, however, should have knowledge of Islamic law and Urdu, as most documents on Wakfs are in that language,” the committee had said.
The proposal of separate Wakf cadre had seen a section of Muslim civil society and Salman Khursheed going on a collision course. A big section of the Muslim community wanted a separate cadre of Wakf officers to deal with the mismanagement and corruption but Khursheed had rejected the proposal saying that it will lead to ghettoization of the community.
The Minority Affairs Minster had ended up creating a controversy by suggesting that even if separate wakf cadre was a recommendation of the Sachar Committee report, one should read the report critically as it might lead to ghettoization of the community.
“The recommendations of Sachar Committee Report are not divine like (the) Quran; they can be wrong also and that’s why one must approach them critically,” he reportedly which was strongly criticized both by the community and also by the Sachar Committee members like Abusaleh Shariff
In spite of the rejection from the Minister of Minority Affairs, the proposal of a separate cadre has been getting support from the Muslim civil society, Justice Sachar himself who headed the Sachar Committee and various other people including K Rahman Khan who had headed the Parliamentary panel on Wakf.
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