Bengal's U-Turn: State Rushes to Upload 82,000 Waqf Properties to Centre's Portal

The West Bengal government has issued an urgent directive to all district magistrates to upload details of 82,000 waqf properties to the Centre's "UMEED" portal by December 6, 2025. The move, framed as a "time-bound compliance requirement," marks a significant administrative U-turn for the Trinamool Congress administration, which had previously vowed not to implement the contentious Waqf Amendment Act. With less than a week to go, state officials are scrambling to organize facilitation camps for imams and mutawallis to navigate the digitization process.

The Context (How We Got Here)

The directive follows months of political standoff. After Parliament passed the Waqf Amendment Act in April 2025, Chief Minister [Mamata Banerjee] declared it a tool of "divide and rule" and refused implementation. However, a September Supreme Court ruling, while staying some provisions, did not halt the mandatory registration of properties on the central portal. This legal reality has forced the state's hand. The Union Ministry of Minority Affairs, led by [Kiren Rijiju], launched the UMEED portal in June with a strict six-month deadline, aiming to create a unified digital registry for India's estimated 9 lakh waqf assets.

The Key Players (Who & So What)

Mamata Banerjee (CM, West Bengal): The pragmatist. Her administration's pivot from defiance to compliance highlights the limits of state resistance against federal mandates backed by the Supreme Court, even as she continues to politically oppose the Act.
Kiren Rijiju (Union Minority Affairs Minister): The enforcer. His push for a "one-stop digital platform" is framed as a transparency measure to curb encroachment, but critics view it as a centralization of control over minority community assets.
Mutawalli Association: The stakeholders on the ground. They are reporting severe technical glitches and a lack of support, warning that thousands of estates could miss the deadline due to the portal's inefficiencies, potentially leaving properties vulnerable to legal limbo.

The BIGSTORY Reframe

While the headlines focus on the political U-turn, the deeper story is the "Digital Disenfranchisement Risk." The rush to digitize 82,000 properties in a week is creating a chaotic bottleneck. Technical failures on the UMEED portal, combined with the digital literacy gap among rural mutawallis, raise the specter of mass exclusion. If valid properties fail to upload their data by December 6 due to system errors, they risk being categorized as "disputed" or "unregistered," opening the door for state takeover or encroachment. This isn't just an administrative hurdle; it's a potential property rights crisis for the minority community, hidden behind the veneer of "digital reform."

The Implications (Why This Changes Things)

The state's compliance signals that the administrative machinery of the Waqf Amendment Act is moving forward regardless of political opposition. This sets a precedent for other non-BJP states like Tamil Nadu and Punjab. However, the chaotic implementation could trigger a wave of litigation from estate managers who find themselves locked out of the system. Strategically, it forces the TMC to balance its minority protection narrative with the reality of federal enforcement, potentially alienating its core support base if property rights are compromised during the transition.

The Closing Question (Now, Think About This)

If a digital portal becomes the sole arbiter of property legitimacy, what happens to centuries-old institutions that can't log in?

FAQs

What is the UMEED portal? The UMEED (Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development) portal is a centralized digital platform launched by the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs to register and manage all waqf properties in India, aiming for greater transparency.

Why is the West Bengal government uploading property details now? Despite initially opposing the Waqf Amendment Act, the state government is complying with the mandatory registration requirement because the Supreme Court refused to stay that specific provision. The deadline for uploading data is December 6, 2025.

What is the deadline for waqf property registration? The Union government has set a deadline of December 6, 2025, exactly six months after the launch of the UMEED portal, for all existing waqf estates to upload their details.

How many waqf properties are there in West Bengal? According to state government figures, there are approximately 82,000 waqf properties spread across 8,063 estates in West Bengal.

What challenges are mutawallis facing? Caretakers (mutawallis) are reporting technical glitches on the portal, slow server speeds, a lack of digital literacy, and insufficient support from the state Waqf Board, raising fears that many properties will not be registered in time.

Sources

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Brajesh Mishra Associate Editor

Brajesh Mishra is an Associate Editor at BIGSTORY NETWORK, specializing in daily news from India with a keen focus on AI, technology, and the automobile sector. He brings sharp editorial judgment and a passion for delivering accurate, engaging, and timely stories to a diverse audience.