Waqf registrations in West Bengal jump by 35,000 after UMEED portal launch, Centre tells Parliament
New Delhi: The Union Minority Affairs Ministry has informed Parliament that the number of validated Waqf property registrations in West Bengal has risen by around 35,000 over the past year, following the launch of the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development (UMEED) portal.
In a written reply, Minister of Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju said that as of July 15, 2026, a total of 1,15,551 Waqf properties in the state had been validated and approved on the UMEED portal. This is up from 80,548 properties reported in February 2025, marking an increase of approximately 35,000 registrations.
The reply, submitted to a question raised by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Samik Bhattacharya, stated that the Board of Auqaf, West Bengal had initiated 1,33,417 properties for uploading on the central portal. Of these, 12,720 properties were rejected during verification. The board, the Minister said, had complied with the extended statutory deadline.
The UMEED portal was launched by the central government in June 2025, after the Waqf (Amendment) Act was passed by Parliament. The legislation has been a matter of intense political debate in West Bengal since it was introduced in 2024. The state assembly passed a resolution in December 2024 opposing the Bill, and protests followed, including an incident of communal violence in Murshidabad that claimed at least three lives.
Former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee publicly opposed the Waqf Amendment Bill and said her government would protect Waqf properties in the state. In January 2026, she issued a newspaper advertisement stating that the State Waqf Board had filed a writ petition against the law in the Supreme Court.
At the same time, however, the state government urged people to register their properties on the UMEED portal. The advertisement sought to clarify that “registration of property details in the new portal will not result in transfer or alienation of Waqf properties.” This came after criticism over what appeared to be a contradiction: opposing the law while directing compliance with its provisions.
A source in the State Waqf Board, speaking to The Hindu, attributed the sharp increase in registrations to the fact that many properties had remained unregistered for years. “The number of registrations in the past year may be more because the UMEED portal started in 2025. But these properties have remained unregistered in the past 15 years since the board did their last survey. So, the numbers have increased in the past 15 years; the registration has happened in the past year,” the source said.
The central government has said the UMEED portal is intended to bring transparency and efficiency to Waqf property management across the country. The Waqf (Amendment) Act, passed in 2025, introduced significant changes to the administration of Waqf boards and properties, including centralised registration and stricter verification processes.
In West Bengal, the political fault lines over the legislation remain visible. Opposition parties have criticised the state government for not fully resisting the law, while the state asserts that it is taking legal and administrative steps to protect Waqf assets. The latest registration figures provide a factual baseline for the ongoing debate, though both sides interpret the numbers differently.
The data presented to Parliament does not indicate whether the rise in registrations represents properties that are newly identified or previously unrecorded. Officials said the verification process is ongoing and that the final figures will be updated as more properties are processed.
The UMEED portal is now the central repository for Waqf property data across India, and states are expected to complete uploading within the statutory timeline. West Bengal's compliance, as acknowledged in the parliamentary reply, marks a significant administrative step, even as legal and political challenges to the underlying law continue in courts.
