India's West Bengal and Kerala Accelerate Waqf Property Digitisation

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju reported that West Bengal's Board of Auqaf has initiated documentation of 133,417 waqf properties on the UMEED Central Portal, up from a previous baseline of 80,548. Of these, 115,551 have been validated and approved, 12,720 were rejected, and 103 encroachment proceedings have been launched under Section 54 of the UMEED Act.

The Kerala Waqf Board has registered 79,905 waqf assets on the same portal, placing the state third nationwide. Among these, 63,086 have been approved, 7,979 are pending scrutiny, 17 await approval, 3,902 remain at the data‑entry stage, and 4,921 entries have been rejected or returned for correction. Nationwide, 7,99,027 waqf properties have been uploaded, with 6,17,192 validated and approved, while a substantial number remain pending or rejected.

The UMEED portal, launched in June 2025, aims to create a unified digital database of waqf properties across India, improve governance, increase transparency, and help curb illegal encroachments. Both states received extensions from the Waqf Tribunal to meet the upload deadlines.