Centre plans to commercially redevelop prime waqf properties

THe unification nonage affairs ministry is preparing to seek storage locker favourable reception for a ₹1,000-crore redevelopment draft aimed at commercially transforming high-value waqf properties across major Indian cities, even as consolidated data from the Centre’s UMEED portal shows that only 216,000 of an estimated 800,00 waqf properties have been fully registered under the new digital regime.The sharp gap between initiated uploads and completed registrations might trigger a significant wave of tribunal petitions in the coming months, even as the government moves ahead with a national plan to monetise underutilised waqf assets. To be sure, last week, Union minority affairs minister Kiren Rijiju said that propoerties can be registered for another three months without any penalties even though he ruled out any extension of the deadline.The proposal, expected to be placed before the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) in January according to senior minority affairs ministry officials, outlines a joint redevelopment model involving state waqf boards, NAWADCO and private developers.Officials in the ministry said the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi is advising the ministry on land-pooling structures, concession frameworks and a unified contract architecture that will allow hospitals, commercial towers, educational institutions and housing complexes to be developed on waqf land through long-term revenue-sharing or lease arrangements.Under the emerging framework, NAWADCO ( National Waqf Development Corporation Ltd., a central PSU created in 2013) will act as the nodal project-development entity. It will identify plots and assess the feasibility of redevelopment, onboard investors and structure joint ventures, and also ensure that redevelopment complies with the statutory requirement that the waqf character of the land remains intact. Officials drafting the EFC note said the plan aims to replace “fragmented, one-off redevelopment attempts” with a national pipeline of commercially scalable waqf projects.Waqf, in Islamic law, refers to a charitable endowment where an individual dedicates property for religious or philanthropic purposes, with the benefits accruing to a specified group or for a public good. Notified in April, the 2025 Waqf Amendment law amends the 1995 Waqf Act, and was touted by the government as a comprehensive overhaul aimed at improving the administration and management of waqf properties.Central to the law was the registration of the waqf property on a central portal, a provision upheld by the Supreme Court in its decision in September. But the apex court said collectors couldn’t decide by themselves if a property was waqf or not, and said that until proceedings before waqf tribunals are concluded, no third-party rights shall be created by mutawallis or custodians of such waqfs in the properties concerned.The redevelopment push, however, coincides with the closing of the UMEED portal’s six-month upload window on December 6, following the Supreme Court’s refusal to extend the deadline. The portal received 517,000 initiated submissions, but only 2,16,905 properties were approved by the deadline. Another 2,13,941 were stuck at various stages in the workflow, while 10,872 entries were rejected. With nearly 300,000 applications pending or incomplete, officials expect a heavy tribunal load in early 2026 as waqf boards attempt to defend the legal status of properties that did not receive timely approval.State-level data reveals stark disparities. Karnataka recorded the highest number of successful registrations at 52,917, completing about 81% of its total portfolio. Jammu & Kashmir followed with 25,046 approvals (around 77%), Punjab with 24,969 (nearly 90%), and Gujarat with 24,133 (around 61%). These four states alone account for more than half of all completed UMEED registrations nationwide.In contrast, West Bengal—despite holding 80,480 waqf properties—completed only 716 registrations, a rate of 0.89%, after months of refusing to implement the amended law before issuing last-minute directions to begin uploads. Kerala, despite initiating 42,772 entries, secured only 642 approvals. Delhi similarly recorded 64 approvals out of 3,152 initiated entries.Uttar Pradesh, the state with the largest waqf estate, initiated 86,345 uploads but saw limited completion. The Shia Waqf Board managed 789 approvals (around 5%), while the Sunni Waqf Board completed 12,982 (about 11%). Except for Bihar, UP is the only state with separate waqf boards for the two sects. Maharashtra registered 17,971 properties out of 36,700, reflecting a completion rate of 48%.Officials monitoring the exercise said the gap between initiated and approved entries reflects persistent problems: Outdated handwritten records, missing boundary maps, conflicting municipal claims and old tenancy regimes that make verification difficult. In many cases, older revenue entries refer to markers that no longer exist—such as old wells, dismantled shrines or defunct pathways—requiring physical re-survey before digitisation.On Friday, Rijiju ruled out extending the deadline for registering Waqf properties on the UMEED portal but said his ministry, recognising the concerns of ‘mutawallis’ or Waqf property caretakers, will not impose any penalty or take strict action for the next three months as a humanitarian and facilitative measureBut the pending backlog now has direct implications for redevelopment. For NAWADCO and private developers to begin large-scale construction, clear title and legally recognised waqf status are essential. Officials drafting the EFC note acknowledged this tension, saying redevelopment would proceed in phases, focusing first on approved parcels while unresolved properties move through tribunals. A senior official said the ministry anticipates “five to seven years of overlapping litigation and redevelopment,” and that the contract templates being designed for the new model include clauses addressing tribunal-related uncertainties and staggered approvals.RESPONSE FROM OPPOSITION PARTIES