Deadline approaches for Telangana’s Waqf Portal registrations amid uncertainties

With the deadline of the UMEED waqf portal soon coming to a close, data indicates that a percentage of the total registrations of waqf institutions in Telangana are unregistered waqf properties, and a majority of institutions registered on the portal are yet to be cleared by higher authorities.

According to official data the State has about 33,900 registered waqf institutions and till December 4, the total number of registrations on the UMEED portal stood at 36,056.

“Unregistered waqf properties are being registered on the portal as well. Of course, a large number of notified properties too have been registered,” Telangana State Waqf Board Chairman Syed Azmatuallah Husseini told The Hindu. “The number of properties registered had crossed 36,000 yesterday. We have crossed that number today [December 5] and over 40,000 have been registered so far.”

Mr Husseini clarified that the last date for registration and document uploading is December 6, a communication from the Centre was received in this regard, he said.

A procedural step after registration and uploading documents by ‘makers’, who are usually mutawallis or managing committee members of waqf institutions, is for ‘checkers’ to confirm compliance. Subsequently, an approver has to give the final go-ahead. The number, according to Mr Husseini had increased on December 5.

“Over 4,000 registrations have been checked. As long as properties are registered on the portal, we are in a safe zone. We are going to register as many institutions till December 6 midnight. After this checking and approvals will be done. Registration and uploading documents is an important part of the exercise. We can deal with the waqf-by-user, and other unregistered properties as well as checking and approving after this. The checkers and approvers process will be ongoing as there are sensitive properties are involved and care has to be taken,” he said, adding that he had appealed to management of unregistered institutions to get their documents in order.

Mr. Husseini said that while more time is required, a draft petition is being prepared in case the TGWB needs to move the Waqf Tribunal for an extension of the deadline.

At both the TGWB helpdesk, that witnessed heavy activity, and Shahi Masjid Bagh-e-Aam in Public Gardens, which has doubled up as a centre to provide technical assistance to applicants, misconceptions of masjids being ‘private’ in nature were tackled.

For instance, an applicant with a clutch of documents sought to know whether a land parcel purchased with one’s own money, on which a small masjid was constructed about a decade ago, would be treated as a private space or waqf. Relevant guidance was provided to him.