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.

Diesel price hits record high after rates hiked for 14th day in a row; petrol up 51 paise

News Network

June 20,2020

New Delhi, Jun 20: Diesel price on Saturday hit a record high after rates were hiked by 61 paise per litre while petrol price was up 51 paise, taking the cumulative increase in rates in two weeks to Rs 8.28 and Rs 7.62 respectively.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 78.88 per litre from Rs 78.37, while diesel rates were increased to Rs 77.67 a litre from Rs 77.06, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.

The 14th daily increase in rates since oil companies on June 7 restarted revising prices in line with costs after ending an 82-day hiatus in rate revision, has taken diesel prices to new high. Petrol price too is at a two-year high.

Prior to the current rally, diesel rate had touched a peak of Rs 75.69 per litre in Delhi on October 16, 2018.

The highest-ever petrol price was on October 4, 2018, when rates soared to Rs 84 a litre in Delhi.

When rates had peaked in October 2018, the government had cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 per litre each. State-owned oil companies were asked to absorb another Re 1 a litre to help cut retail rates by Rs 2.50 a litre.

Oil companies had quickly recouped the Re 1 and the government in July 2019 raised excise duty by Rs 2 a litre.

The 82-day freeze in rates this year was imposed in mid-March soon after the government hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel to shore up additional finances.

The government on March 14 hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 3 per litre each and then again on May 5 by a record Rs 10 per litre in case of petrol and Rs 13 on diesel. The two hikes gave the government Rs 2 lakh crore in additional tax revenues.

Oil PSUs Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL), instead of passing on the excise duty hikes to customers, adjusted them against the fall in retail rates that was warranted because of a decline in international oil prices to two-decade lows.

International oil prices have since rebounded and oil firms are now adjusting retail rates in line with them.

In 14 hikes, petrol price has gone up by Rs 7.62 per litre and diesel by Rs 8.28 a litre.

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.

Ex-CJI Ranjan Gogoi takes oath as Rajya Sabha MP

News Network

March 19,2020

New Delhi, Mar 19: Former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi took oath as Rajya Sabha MP on Thursday.

Gogoi's wife Rupanjali Gogoi, daughter, and son in law were also present in Parliament.

Congress staged a walkout from the Rajya Sabha over Gogoi's membership to the House.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Ravishankar Prasad welcomed Gogoi in the Rajya Sabha.

President Ram Nath Kovind had nominated the former CJI to the Rajya Sabha on March 16.

Gogoi served as the 46th Chief Justice of India from October 3, 2018, to November 17, 2019.

On November 9, 2019, a five-judge Bench headed by him had delivered the verdict in the long-pending Ramjanmabhoomi case.

Comments

People lost trust in Judiciary because of such horrible criminals.

He betrayed the whole nation. Unless he is booked, the judiciary will not restore the lost faith.

The loss may be momentary in nature, It is the promise of the Almighty, He will ensure the justice is served to everyone.

Pure slave like goo mutur....nice life DDDDOOOOGGGGG

Fixed from judgement of babri masjid to rajya sabha member

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.

Petrol, diesel prices hiked by 60 paise/litre each; 5th straight daily increase in rates

News Network

June 11,2020

New Delhi, Jun 11: Petrol and diesel prices on Thursday were hiked by 60 paise per litre each - the fifth straight daily increase in rates since oil PSUs ended an 82-day hiatus in rate revision.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 74 per litre from Rs 73.40 while diesel rates were increased to Rs 72.22 a litre from Rs 71.62, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.

This is the fifth daily increase in rates in a row since oil companies on Sunday restarted revising prices in line with costs, after ending an 82-day hiatus.

In five hikes, petrol price has gone up by Rs 2.74 per litre and diesel by Rs 2.83.

Comments