No land has been given by the Centre government to the Waqf Board since 2019, according to the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry report filed in Rajya Sabha on Monday.
In a written reply to a question about the total area of land provided to the Waqf Board by the Central and state governments from 2019 till date, MoS Tokhan Sahu said land is a state subject and hence, no data of land provided by the state governments is available with the ministry.
He, however said as far as the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is concerned, no land has been provided to the Waqf Board by the Government of India since 2019.
In August, the government introduced the Waqf (Amendment) Bill and sent it to a joint parliamentary committee after an acrimonious debate. While the government claimed that the proposed law did not mean to disturb the working of mosques, the opposition characterized it as a targeting of Muslims and an attack on the Constitution.
Last week, Jagdambika Pal, the chairman of the joint parliamentary committee, said the panel has written to state governments, seeking details of the disputed Waqf properties within their jurisdiction.
This was said by Pal after a meeting of the panel on December 5. The meeting was the first after the panel was granted an extension of tenure till the last week of next year's Budget Session.
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