With an aim to access the information about the properties that come under the Waqf Board in Uttarakhand, the state government has decided to bring all the Waqf Board properties in the state under the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act 2005.

This decision is being seen as a significant development as there are more than 2,200 Waqf properties in Uttarakhand worth lakhs of rupees and no information can be obtained about these assets, funds and etc. Due to a lack of information about it, misleading cases have come to light on several occasions. In fact, under the Waqf Act 1995 (Amended 2013), these properties come under the control of the Uttarakhand Waqf Board which is why public information officers have not been deployed to ensure that the public does not ask for any information.

This decision came after the State Information Commissioner (SIC) Yogesh Bhatt directed that all the properties under the management of the Waqf board will be under RTI and said that they should prepare manuals under section IV of the RRI within six months. He said that a procedure of providing information directly from the Waqf management concerned or the board should be set in place. The information commission has dispatched copies of the order to the minorities welfare department and the general administration department also.

Earlier, advocate Danish Siddiqui had asked for information about Piran Kaliyar dargah from Waqf Board but he was informed that the information could not be given since there is no PIO in Piran Kaliyar dargah and it is not a statutory body. When the issue came up before the SIC, Bhatt directed the officers of Waqf board to clear things on the issue.

After this it became clear that all the Waqf properties are under the control of the Board and the Chief Executive Officer of the Board can inspect, examine or get the documents etc. of any Waqf property. Also, all the Waqf properties came under the control of the government.

Following this orders were also given to bring the management of Piran Kaliyar Dargah under the ambit of RTI Act. As a result, PIO was deployed at Piran Kaliyar Dargah.