Was Mandatory Registration of Waqfs Required Under the Mussalman Wakf Act, 1923?
Under the Mussalman Wakf Act, 1923, mandatory registration of waqfs was not required in the same manner as modern trust or property registration laws might demand. However, the Act did require certain waqfs to be reported and registered with local authorities, but only under specific conditions.
Under the Mussalman Wakf Act, 1923, registration in the modern legal sense was not mandatory, but mutawallis were required to report waqfs to authorities through a statement of particulars. This was an administrative measure aimed at better governance rather than a legal condition for the waqf’s validity.
The Mussalman Wakf Act, 1923 did not mandate the registration of waqfs in the sense of a formal register or registry. Instead, it required mutawallis (managers of waqf properties) to furnish detailed statements about the waqf to the court, including particulars of the property, income, and related financial details. This process was about providing information and ensuring transparency, but it did not amount to formal registration as understood in later waqf laws.
While the Mussalman Wakf Act, 1923, did not establish a formal system of mandatory registration of waqfs in the same way later acts did, it did impose an obligation on mutawallis (managers of waqfs) to furnish particulars relating to the waqf to the Court.
Therefore, while it wasn’t a “registration” in the modern sense with a centralized board, it was a legal requirement for mutawallis to provide detailed information about the waqf to the courts, with penalties for non-compliance. This can be seen as an early form of mandatory reporting and oversight, laying the groundwork for more comprehensive registration systems in subsequent Waqf Acts (like the 1954 and 1995 Acts), which explicitly mandated registration with Waqf Boards.
The Mussalman Wakf Act, 1923, had limitations, such as lack of enforcement mechanisms and inadequate provisions for supervision, which led to its replacement by more comprehensive legislation, such as the Wakf Act, 1954, and later the Wakf Act, 1995.
The Supreme Court has recently noted that the requirement to provide information about waqfs has been present in various enactments since 1923, even if formal “registration” became a continuous requirement from 1954 onwards.
The Mussalman Wakf Act, 1923
Section 3: Obligation to furnish particulars relating to wakf:
(a) a description of the wakf property sufficient for the identification thereof;
(b) the gross annual income from such property;
(c) the gross amount of such income which has been collected during the five years preceding the date on which the statement is furnished, or of the period which has elapsed since the creation of the wakf, whichever period is shorter;
(d) the amount of the Government revenue and cesses, and of all rents, annually payable in respect of the wakf property;
(e) an estimate of the expenses annually incurred in the realisation of the income of the wakf property, based on such details as are available of any such expenses incurred within the period to which the particulars under clause (c) relate;
(f) the amount set apart under the wakf for-
(i) the salary of the mutawalli and allowances to individuals;
(ii) purely religious purposes;
(iii) charitable purposes;
(iv) any other purposes; and
(g) any other particulars which may be prescribed.
(2) Every such statement shall be accompanied by a copy of the deed or instrument creating the wakf, or, if no such deed or instrument has been executed or a copy thereof cannot be obtained, shall contain full particulars, as far as they are known to the mutawalli, of the origin, nature and objects of the wakf.
(3) Where-
(a) a wakf is created after the commencement of this Act, or
(b) in the case of a wakf such as is described in section 3 of the Wakf Validating Act, 1913 (6 of 1913), the person creating the wakf or any member of his family or any of his descendants is at the commencement of this Act alive and entitled to claim any benefit thereunder, the statement referred to in sub-section (1) shall be furnished, in the case referred to in clause (a), within six months of the date on which the wakf is created or, if it has been created by a written document, of the date on which such document is executed, or, in the case referred to in clause (b), within six months of the date of the death of the person entitled to such benefit as aforesaid, or of the last survivor of any such persons, as the case may be.
