In a representation to Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, Members of Parliament from both Houses have raised serious concerns over the functioning of UMEED Portal, urging the Centre to extend the deadline for uploading waqf property details under Section 3B(1) of the Waqf Act, 1995 as amended in 2025. The MPs warned that thousands of genuine waqfs and mutawallis across India are unable to meet statutory compliance due to persistent technical failures, procedural hurdles, and demographic constraints.
The letter, sent under the collective banner of Members of Parliament from the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, notes that the statutory six-month period mandated for uploading waqf details never became fully available in practice. While the Act commenced on 8 April 2025, the UMEED Portal was launched only on 6 June, followed by notification of Rules on 3 July. Clarity on the operation of the amended law emerged only after an interim order from the Supreme Court on 15 September. “The statutory period was effectively truncated, defeating the legislative intent of allowing six complete months,” the MPs wrote.
Recounting the background, the letter recalls that Section 3B was one of the contentious provisions examined by the Joint Parliamentary Committee chaired by Jagdambika Pal. The JPC had recommended that mutawallis be allowed to file details even beyond six months in genuine cases. While Parliament accepted the need for extension, the final law restricted tribunals to granting no more than six additional months, reducing flexibility significantly.
The MPs highlighted widespread difficulties on the ground, especially in rural and semi-urban areas where most auqaf are located. In many cases, mutawallis are elderly and unfamiliar with digital systems, forcing them to rely on others for navigating the platform. Mandatory fields on the Portal, particularly those requiring historical land data, have proved impossible to fill for older waqfs with no surviving records.
Adding to the woes, the Portal has suffered from severe technical glitches since its launch. Until 31 August 2025, users frequently encountered undefined errors even during registration or sign-in. Many reported that the Portal effectively functioned only between 12 PM and 4 PM, with frequent timeouts during uploads. “Even during those hours the website took long to load, often deleting partially entered information,” the letter stated.
Land-related validations have become another major stumbling block. The Portal routinely rejects entries where Gata numbers or exact land areas are unavailable, common for decades-old properties. For waqfs created through undivided shares, the requirement to provide boundaries at the time of dedication is virtually impossible to meet. Many State Gazette notifications issued after surveys also lacked boundary or area details, but the Portal mandates these particulars as mandatory entries.
Dropdown failures for districts, wards, and villages have been consistently reported. Several municipal areas do not appear in the system at all. The Portal also restricts applicants to selecting the Waqf Board of their residential State, disregarding the many cases where mutawallis manage properties across States. Even after successful submissions, the preview pages frequently show “No Data,” making verification at the Board level impossible.
The MPs warned that thousands of mutawallis now face the risk of penal consequences under Section 61(1A)(v), including imprisonment and fines, despite making bona fide efforts. They emphasized that extending the compliance period is well within government discretion, especially since the six-month period has already been recalculated by the Ministry from the Portal’s launch date rather than the Act’s commencement date.
Urging swift remedial action, the MPs appealed to the Minister to “ameliorate the situation” and ensure that technical shortcomings do not result in punitive action against genuine waqf custodians. The intervention, they stressed, is essential for justice, administrative fairness, and meaningful implementation of the law.
