Mumbai, Nov 29 (PTI) A day after issuing a government resolution (GR) for the release of Rs 10 crore funds to strengthen the state Waqf Board, the Maharashtra government on Friday withdrew the order amid opposition by the BJP.
State Chief Secretary Sujata Saunik confirmed that the order has been withdrawn.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won the recent state assembly elections as part of the Mahayuti alliance, opposed the GR saying the decision was taken at the administrative level, and added that Waqf Board has no place in the Constitution.
Eknath Shinde is currently the caretaker chief minister of Maharashtra after the term of the 288-member legislative assembly ended on November 26.
The ruling Mahayuti retained power in the state, pocketing a whopping 230 of the 288 assembly seats. The BJP won 132 seats, the Shiv Sena 57 and the NCP got 41 seats.
On Thursday, the government issued the GR, stating that the finance and planning department has approved a Rs 10 crore grant for strengthening the Maharashtra State Board of Waqfs (MSBW) headquartered in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
When asked whether the GR was withdrawn, Saunik confirmed the development.
According to the GR issued on Thursday, Rs 20 crore were earmarked for 2024-25 for strengthening of the state Waqf Board. Of that, Rs 2 crore were already disbursed to the board.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Waqf Board has been asked to take precautions to keep the expenditure under the prescribed norms, it said.
In a post on X, the Maharashtra BJP said "fake news" was being spread that the BJP-Mahayuti government gave a grant of Rs 10 crore for the Waqf Board.
"The decision was taken by officers at the administrative level. The GR has been scrapped after stiff opposition by the BJP. The BJP is firm on its stand that the waqf board has no place in the Constitution," the Maharashtra unit of the BJP said in the post.
These developments come amid a row over the Centre's Waqf (Amendment) Bill.
The Union government had listed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, in its legislative agenda for the winter session of Parliament, pending a report from the parliamentary panel.
The bill seeks to amend the Waqf Act, 1995 to ensure more accountability and transparency in the functioning of Waqf Boards and also has provisions for mandatory inclusion of women in these bodies.
The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 8 and referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) constituted under the Chairmanship of Lok Sabha MP Jagdambika Pal, for examination.
Earlier this week, opposition members in the JCP met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking an extension of the tenure of the panel by a "reasonable time" to allow substantive deliberations on the expansive legislation.