Cutchi Memon Digest
Kerala
ﮐﮁﻲ ﻤﻴﻤﻦ ﮢ ﺍﯿﺠﺴﭧ - ﮐﻴﺮﻻ
Editorial
ﺴﻢ ﷲ ﺍﻠﺮﺤﻣݧ ﺍﻠﺮﺤﻴﻢ
Dear Brethren,
ﺁﻠﺴﻶﻡ ﻋﻠﻳﻜﻡ ﺮﺤﻣﺔ ﷲ ﻭ ﺒﺮﮐﺁﺗﮥ
In this issue of the CM Digest we are introducing a column on the legal matters of interest and concern to the Cutchi Memon Community. They include Waqf properties, Marriage and inheritance. In this month we will discuss about the issue relating to the Waqfs due to its contemporary importance to the community as a whole.
Waqf is of paramount importance to Cutchi Memons as crores worth properties have been donated by our ancestors for the common benefit of all Muslims. Most of these properties are still in use for the purposes for which they were dedicated and quite a few of them were encroached and fell into adverse hands. The recent amendment to the Waqf Act ( Waqf (Amendment) Act 2013) makes it mandatory for the the Waqf Boards to conduct updation surveys of waqfs and to evict and penalise encroachers on waqf property. So far it is fine and acceptable.
An important fact which needs to be noted here is that in a large number of waqf properties the waqifs and mutawallis had permitted poor Muslims to stay in houses or rooms built on them at a nominal or no rent. In course of time the rent agreements, if at all they existed as in most cases they were oral arrangements, they have lapsed though the original lessees and in all probability their children or assignees continue to occupy the premises. Declaring such occupants as encroachers would not only cause immense hardships to the poor occupants but also result in the
government take over as property without identifiable owner or Mutawally. The Jamats would have to look into the issue and advise the Mutawallies and residents to update their contracts lest the Government should move in. Where Mutawallies are not traceable the Jamat should stand in for the Mutawally and regularise the occupancy. Creating awareness among the occupants about the potential danger needs considerat-ion. In the case of property encroached by others or otherwise disposed of by the corrupt Mutawallies, the Jamats concerned should endeavour to recover possession.as ostensible agents for the waqif or Mutawally. An exercise of locating such properties and raising their claims, if needed by initiating a process to get the law amended in favour of the Jamats to which the waqif would have belonged to, needs to be thought of soon, as the mandatory time period for the survey of waqf properties (including the encroachments) is already over and the governments are likely to have started the eviction process.
An important decision of the Supreme Court on 9th February 2015 needs to be viewed critically. What the apex court has ruled is that a Muslim's fundamental right to profess Islam does not include practicing polygamy. The Muslim personal Law though permits men to have four wives, polygamy was not integral to religion. What was protected under Article 25 (right to practice and propagate any religion) was the religious faith and not a practice which may run counter to public order, health or morality. Readers are requested to send in their reactions and comments to this. They will be incorporated in an article under Glimpses of Islamic Law in the April Issue.
ﻭﺁﻠﺴﻶﻡ
J.M.I. Sait
Editor