UP govt mulling merging Shia, Sunni Waqf boards to prevent ‘wastage of money’

Agencies
October 22, 2017

Lucknow, Oct 22: The Uttar Pradesh government is mulling forming a "UP Muslim Waqf board" by merging the separate Sunni and Shia Waqf boards to prevent "wastage of money", Minister of State for Waqf Mohsin Raza said.

He alleged that both Sunni and Shia Waqf boards are being charged with corruption, and the government will dissolve them soon.

Though things are still to be finalised, the minister said the UP Muslif Waqf board when constituted will have members of both Sunni and Shia communities and its chairman will be selected from among them.

"The government has got a number of letter and suggestions from various quarters regarding the merger of Sunni and Shia Waqf boards. After which, the government has sought a proposal in this regard from the department concerned.

"After Law departments review of the proposal, the government will consider it and form the UP Muslim Waqf board," Raza told PTI.

He also claimed that all states of the country except UP and Bihar have only one Waqf board.

According to Raza, having separate Waqf boards in the state is not "legal".

Quoting the Waqf Act 1995, he said Shia or Sunni should have at least 15 per cent share in total Waqf units for constitution of separate boards, which he said is not the case in UP where the Shias account for only 5,000 units of the total 24,000 Waqf units.

"There should be at least 15 per cent of share of Shia or Sunni among total Waqf units. In UP there are 24,000 waqf units, of which Shia waqf has only about 5,000 units, which is only 4-5 per cent. Legally it should not be like this," he said.

The minister further said that as per the Central Waqf council, there are only 3,000 units of Shia Waqf Board, and that there was no point in keeping a separate Shia Board.

"Separate chairman, CEO and other staff incure heavy expenses. It is a wastage of money," Mohsin Raza said.

Reacting to the development, Shia Waqf board Chairman Waseem Rizvi said there is no provision to separate Sunni and Shia boards which were constituted in 2015 for the the tenure of five years.

"There is no provision to dissolve the board. After the tenure ends, the government can inquire about number of Waqf units and their income to proceed further," Rizvi said.

Rizvi also alleged that the share of income of Shia Waqf board is over 15 per cent of the total income.

However, Chairman of UP Sunni Waqf Board Zufar Farooqui said they welcome the initiative of merging both the boards into one.

But with that said, he wondered why the state government is changing a decision also taken under the BJP rule in 1999 by then Chief Minister Kalyan Singh.

"In 1999, when the BJP was in power and Kalyan Singh was the Chief Minister he constituted separate Shia and Sunni Waqf boards. Question arises whether the present government does not endorse the previous BJP governments decision," Farooqui asked.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
June 7,2020

New Delhi, Jun 7: A day after India and China military commanders held "cordial and positive" talks at Chushul-Moldo point along the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh, Ministry of External Affairs said the two countries have agreed to "peacefully" resolve the situation in the border areas by continuing the military and diplomatic engagements.

The Indian delegation led by 14 Corps Commander Lt Gen Harinder Singh on Saturday met his Chinese equivalent Maj Gen Liu Lin, who is the commander of South Xinjiang Military Region of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, to address the ongoing tussle in Eastern Ladakh.

In a statement on Sunday, the MEA said that the meeting between the Corps Commander based in Leh and the Chinese Commander took place in a "cordial and positive atmosphere".

"Both sides agreed to peacefully resolve the situation in the border areas in accordance with various bilateral agreements and keeping in view the agreement between the leaders that peace and tranquillity in the India-China border regions is essential for the overall development of bilateral relations," the statement read.

They also noted that this year marked the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries and agreed that an early resolution would contribute to the further development of the relationship.

"Accordingly, the two sides will continue the military and diplomatic engagements to resolve the situation and to ensure peace and tranquillity in the border areas," it further read.

China has moved its troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Eastern Ladakh areas including the Finger area, Pangong Tso Lake, and Galwan Nala area.

The meeting between military commanders was to discuss and resolve the stand-off in Eastern Ladakh.

Following the meeting, the Army Headquarters' Directorate General of Military Operations also briefed the Ministry of External Affairs and other concerned government officials about the discussions.

On Friday, officials of India and China interacted through video-conferencing with the two sides agreeing that they should handle "their differences through peaceful discussion" while respecting each other's sensitivities and concerns and not allowing them to become disputes in accordance with the guidance provided by the leadership.

In the last few days, there has not been any major movement of the PLA troops at the multiple sites where it has stationed itself along the LAC opposite Indian forces.

The Chinese Army's intent to carry out deeper incursions was checked by the Indian security forces by quick deployment.

The Chinese have also brought in heavy vehicles with artillery guns and infantry combat vehicles in their rear positions close to the Indian territory.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 7,2020

New Delhi, Jan 7: The Delhi Police has filed an FIR against JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh and 19 others for allegedly attacking security guards and vandalising the server room of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on January 4.

The police registered the FIR on January 5.

In the complaint filed by the JNU administration, the University alleged that the accused were involved in physical violence and pushed the women guards, verbally abused them and threatened them of dire consequences if they opened the lock of university's communication and information (CIS) office.

"They illegally trespassed the University property with the criminal intention to damage the public property. They damaged servers and made it dysfunctional. They also damaged fiber optic power supplies and broke the biometric systems inside the room," the University officials alleged.

This incident allegedly occurred a day before Aishe Ghosh, other JNU students and teachers were attacked by a masked mob inside the campus.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
May 17,2020

New Delhi, May 17: The HRD Ministry on Saturday postponed announcement of the exam schedule for pending class 10 and 12 board exams, saying the CBSE is still considering certain technical aspects before finalising the datesheet.

The ministry had earlier announced that it would notify the schedule at 5 pm on Saturday.

"CBSE is taking into consideration some additional technical aspects before finalizing the datesheets of the board exams of classes 10th and 12th, due to which, the datesheets will now be released by Monday i.e. 18-05-2020. Inconvenience caused is sincerely regretted (sic)," Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' tweeted.

The ministry had last week announced that the pending class 10 and 12 CBSE exams, which were postponed due to the COVID-19-induced lockdown, would be conducted from July 1 to 15.

However, the schedule as well as the modalities and guidelines have not been announced yet.

While class 12 exams will be conducted across the country, the class 10 exams are only pending in North East Delhi where they were affected due to the law and order situation.

Universities and schools across the country have been closed and exams postponed since March 16 when the Centre announced a countrywide classroom shutdown as one of the measures to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.

Later, a nationwide lockdown was announced on March 24, which has now been extended till May 17.

The board was not able to conduct class 10 and 12 exams on eight examination days due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Further, due to the law and order situation in North East Delhi, the board was not able to conduct exams on four examination days, while a very small number of students from and around this district were not able to appear in exams on six days.

The board had last month announced that it will only conduct pending exams in 29 subjects which are crucial for promotion and admission to higher educational institutions.

The modalities of assessment for the subjects for which exams are not being conducted will be announced soon by the board.

The schedule has been decided in order to ensure that the board exams are completed before competitive examinations such as engineering entrance JEE-Mains, which is scheduled from July 18-23, and medical entrance exam NEET, which is scheduled on July 26.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued guidelines to universities that the new academic session for freshers will begin from September while for the existing students from August.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.