Tenants of Wakf properties seek roll back of new law, stage protest

Scores of Wakf Board tenants on Sunday protested at Jantar Mantar and demanded the abolition of the new Wakf Lease Act and also the scraping of the Wakf Board, besides giving them the right to property.

Tenants Welfare Association, which organised the agitation against the new law which came into force in April, said that it will cause the eviction of more than 6,000 shops in Delhi in near future, resulting in unemployment.  

Several other organisations like Delhi Wakf traders, Chawari Bazar vapar mandal, APMA( Delhi Auto Part Association), Sadar bazaar shopkeepers, Maliwara Traders Association, trade associations from Haryana and Punjab also participated in the protest and demanded to  abolish Wakf  lease rules.

Necessary amendment
The affected tenants have also presented their demands and submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister of Minority Affairs Nazma Hepatulla, and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to “stop the eviction of the tenants, make the necessary correction and pass the bill in Parliament”.

“We want that the definition of encroacher should be abolished and auction of Wakf properties should be stopped immediately. We want that the Maximum lease period should be for 99 years, rent should not be related to circle rate, reasonable enhance of rent should be there and rent should increase 10 per cent after every three years. We also want that the lease period should be same of all tenants with auto renewal facility and there should be no bar on civil court jurisdiction,” said Indrajeet Madan, spokesperson, Tenants Welfare Association.

Another member of the association, Preetpal Singh, said, “We kept a close watch on the activities of the Wakf Board and ministry of minorities and central Wakf council and found that all protocols were bypassed at the time of passing of the act. In 2015 the central Wakf council came up with another act ‘eviction of unauthorized occupant’s bill 2015’ which is baseless and completely against the trading community”.