After months of refusal, the West Bengal government has finally agreed to follow the new Waqf Amendment Act, 2025. The state Minority Development Department has instructed district magistrates to upload details of 82,000 waqf properties across the state on the central government’s portal by the deadline of December 5.
After months-long deadlock, Bengal govt accepts Centre’s new Waqf law https://t.co/DDZs9TvOGq
— The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) November 29, 2025
The Waqf Amendment Act,2025, was passed in April this year by both Houses of Parliament. West Bengal’s Minority Development Department secretary, PB Salim, sent a letter to all district magistrates on Thursday, 27th November, asking them to upload district-wise data of waqf properties on the portal umeedminority.gov.in within the given timeframe.
This decision is significant politically because Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had openly said she would stop the new Act from being implemented in West Bengal. After the Bill was introduced by the central government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, widespread protests broke out in the state. Speaking on 9th April at a Jain community, Mamata Banerjee said she would protect the Muslim community, which makes up 33% of the state’s population, and refused to allow the Act to divide the people.
The amended law requires waqf boards and tribunals to include non-Muslim members, and gives the government the final say if a property is claimed as waqf. The West Bengal government challenged the law in court but did not get a favourable ruling. According to Section 3B of the Act, information about all registered waqf properties must be uploaded to the central system within six months of the law coming into effect.
There are more than 8,000 waqf estates in the state, and the property managers, or mutawallis, are responsible for uploading the information. The Minority Development Department has laid out an eight-step plan that includes getting familiar with the online portal, conducting meetings and workshops with mutawallis and madrasa teachers, entering data in two parts (one for mutawalli registration and one for property details), excluding controversial waqf properties for now, assigning officials for monitoring, deploying senior officers to districts, setting up help desks across districts, and offering daily virtual training sessions for staff across the state.
