Origin from 1964
The Central Waqf Council is India's national-level statutory apex advisory body on Waqf administration, established in 1964 under the Wakf Act, 1954, and operating under the Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India. It advises the central and state governments and India's many State Waqf Boards, and oversees the computerization of Waqf property records through the government's WAMSI (Waqf Assets Management System of India) portal. It does not itself own or manage Waqf property; the properties are held and administered separately by each State Waqf Board.
Facts
Finances
Institutional Wealth or Finances8.72 lakh (872,000) immovable and 16,713 movable Waqf properties across India were registered on the government's WAMSI (Waqf Assets Management System of India) portal as of December 2024, with a further 994 properties reported transferred or alienated to other parties, Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply on 9 December 2024. This is a property count, not a monetary valuation, and covers registration on the portal rather than a claim that every Waqf property nationwide has been entered. 1 Institutional Wealth or FinancesThe Government of India's 2006 Sachar Committee, an independent high-level panel chaired by former Chief Justice Rajinder Sachar and commissioned to report on the status of India's Muslim community, estimated the market value of Waqf properties nationwide at roughly 1.2 lakh crore rupees (about 1.2 trillion rupees) and projected the properties could generate at least 12,000 crore rupees a year in revenue if efficiently managed, a figure well above what State Waqf Boards actually reported collecting. This is the committee's own 2006 estimate for the whole of India, not an audited valuation and not specific to properties under this Council's own advisory remit. 2 Basis of the Wealth Figure Basis of the Wealth FigureJournalistic or Scholarly Estimate 2 Financial Disclosure RegimeWaqf administration in India is fragmented across dozens of separate State Waqf Boards, each with its own registration and disclosure practices; there is no single consolidated audited account for Waqf wealth nationwide, only the Central Waqf Council's oversight of a shared registration portal and periodic government disclosures such as ministerial replies to Parliament. Other countries with substantial state waqf administrations, among them Turkey, Egypt, Malaysia, Indonesia and several Gulf states, each maintain their own separate national systems and are not surveyed by the facts recorded here. 1 Wealth Figure As Of Year Wealth Figure As Of Year Origins
Origin Period FounderNo individual founder; established by the Government of India under the Wakf Act, 1954. 1 FoundedEstablished in 1964 under India's Wakf Act, 1954, as the national apex advisory body on Waqf administration, operating under the Ministry of Minority Affairs. 1 Organisation
Category of StructureFunctions purely in an advisory and coordinating capacity: it does not itself own or manage Waqf property, which is held and administered separately by each of India's State Waqf Boards. 1 Status
Current StatusContinues today as India's national statutory apex advisory body on Waqf administration, advising central and state governments and India's State Waqf Boards, and overseeing computerization of Waqf property records through the WAMSI portal; it does not itself own or manage Waqf property, which remains with each State Waqf Board. 1 Learn More
A 1964 Statutory Body With a Purely Advisory Role
This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
The Central Waqf Council is India's national-level statutory apex advisory body on Waqf administration, established in 1964 under the Wakf Act, 1954, and operating under the Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India. It has no individual founder; it was established by an act of the Government of India rather than by any private benefactor or religious endowment, and it advises the central and state governments and India's many separate State Waqf Boards on Waqf administration nationwide, a coordinating role it has carried continuously since its founding in 1964 under the earlier Wakf Act.
It does not itself own or manage Waqf property; the properties are held and administered separately by each individual State Waqf Board across India's states, with the Council overseeing computerization of Waqf property records nationwide through the government's WAMSI (Waqf Assets Management System of India) portal. Its role is purely advisory and coordinating, a function it has performed for more than six decades since its founding under the 1954 act, without ever holding title to a single property itself.
A Fragmented Registry and a 2006 Valuation That Still Stands
This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
Waqf administration in India is fragmented across dozens of separate State Waqf Boards, each with its own registration and disclosure practices, so there is no single consolidated audited account for Waqf wealth nationwide, only the Central Waqf Council's oversight of a shared registration portal and periodic government disclosures such as ministerial replies to Parliament rather than any single published annual report of its own.
8.72 lakh, roughly 872,000, immovable and 16,713 movable Waqf properties across India were registered on the WAMSI portal as of December 2024, with a further 994 properties reported transferred or alienated to other parties, Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply on 9 December 2024. Separately, the Government of India's 2006 Sachar Committee, an independent panel chaired by former Chief Justice Rajinder Sachar, estimated the market value of Waqf properties nationwide at roughly 1.2 lakh crore rupees, projecting they could generate at least 12,000 crore rupees a year in revenue if efficiently managed by their respective state boards.
Sources
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
Choose a year to see this entry's facts and connections as the atlas records them at that moment: what it held then, what it held instead, and what it had not yet adopted. Choose Present for the current record.