Dawoodi Bohras seek 'exclusion' from Waqf Act; opposition MPs meet speaker to protest against panel chief

Dawoodi Bohras, a sect among Muslims, have sought "complete exclusion" from the purview of the Waqf Act while suggesting that the amendment bill fails to recognise their distinctiveness.

Anjuman-E-Shiate Ali, an association administrating and conducting the affairs of Dawoodi Bohra Jamaat of Mumbai, made a presentation before the parliamentary panel on Waqf Amendment Bill, 2024. It was represented by senior advocate Harish Salve on Tuesday.

The bill has proposed separate boards for Bohra community, which said that it preferred its properties for public welfare to be governed by various acts used for regulating trusts.



"The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, fails to recognise the distinctiveness of the Dawoodi Bohra community nor provides for its special treatment. It treats dissimilar communities similarly. We thus seek a complete exclusion from the purview of the Waqf Act, 1995," the community told the panel.

The community said "even if the waqf board comprises solely members of the Dawoodi Bohra community, it would be unworkable... A member of the community would have to treat the word and deed of the al-Dai al-Mutlaq as sacrosanct and would never be part of a body that can doubt much less question the al-Dai al-Mutlaq".

Earlier in the day, Opposition MPs in the panel met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to protest against alleged "unilateral" decisions being taken by panel chief Jagdambika Pal. After the meeting, they said Birla heard them and assured them of a decision at the earliest.