A mosque committee, a madrasa trust or a dargah management often does not know which authority it answers to: the Charity Commissioner or the Maharashtra State Board of Waqfs. The answer decides who approves a change of trustees, who must permit any dealing with property, where disputes go, and what has to be filed. Getting it wrong can leave years of filings with the wrong office. This guide explains the difference and how to check where your institution stands.
Key facts, October 2026
- Two laws
- Public trusts: Maharashtra Public Trusts Act, 1950 (Charity Commissioner). Waqfs: Waqf Act, 1995 (Maharashtra State Board of Waqfs)
- Not every Muslim trust is a waqf
- Supreme Court, Maharashtra State Board of Wakfs v. Shaikh Yusuf Bhai Chawla, 20 October 2022
- But a waqf is a waqf
- Even if it was registered as a public trust, a true waqf is governed by the Waqf Act
- 2025 amendment
- Waqf properties had to be uploaded on the UMEED portal; the six-month window closed in December 2025
- Still in court
- The Supreme Court stayed some 2025 provisions in September 2025 and has listed the challenge for 4 November 2026
Two regulators, two sets of rules
| Public trust | Waqf | |
|---|---|---|
| Law | Maharashtra Public Trusts Act, 1950 | Waqf Act, 1995, as amended in 2025 |
| Authority | Charity Commissioner, through regional offices such as Mumbai and Thane | Maharashtra State Board of Waqfs, head office at Panchakki, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) |
| Register | Public Trust Register; Muslim religious trusts are usually in the “B” series | Register of Waqfs kept by the Board |
| Who manages | Trustees, under the trust deed | Mutawalli or managing committee, under the Board’s supervision |
| Property | Sale, exchange, gift or a long lease of immovable property needs the Charity Commissioner’s prior sanction | Waqf property is dedicated permanently and cannot ordinarily be alienated |
| Disputes | Charity Commissioner and the civil courts | Waqf Board, then the Waqf Tribunal |
In the Charity Commissioner’s coding, the series letters are: A for Hindu religious trusts, B for Muslim religious trusts, C for Parsi, D for Christian and Jewish, E for trusts registered on the basis of a trust deed, and F for societies registered as trusts. A “B” number tells you the trust was registered as a Muslim religious trust. It does not by itself tell you whether it is a waqf.
How the courts tell a waqf from a trust
In the 2022 judgment, the Supreme Court said that whether an institution is a waqf or a trust is a mixed question of fact and law, decided on the documents, the conduct of the parties and the surrounding facts. The points it treated as important include:
- Dedication. A waqf is a permanent and irrevocable dedication of property, by its owner, for a purpose recognised by Muslim law as religious, pious or charitable. No particular form is needed, and it need not be in writing.
- Inalienability. Property dedicated as waqf cannot be sold. A deed that lets trustees sell the property points towards a trust.
- Vesting. In a trust, the property vests in the trustees. In a waqf, it is treated as belonging to God, with the mutawalli only managing it.
The Court also held that, so far as true waqfs are concerned, the Waqf Act has displaced the older public trusts law. A waqf that had been registered as a public trust has to be brought under the Waqf Act. Public trusts that are not waqfs stay with the Charity Commissioner.
In September 2026, the Gujarat High Court, applying the same Bombay Public Trusts Act and Section 43 of the Waqf Act, held that a waqf registered under the earlier law is deemed to be registered under the Waqf Act without a fresh registration. The ruling is from Gujarat, but the law it applied is the same as in Maharashtra.
How to check where your institution stands
- Find the PTR number. Search the trust on the Charity Commissioner’s website (how to check a PTR number). Note the series letter and the regional office.
- Read the founding document. Look for words of dedication to God, a statement that the property is waqf, or a bar on sale. Look also for a power of sale or a clause vesting the property in trustees.
- Check the Waqf Board’s records. Ask whether the institution or its property is entered in the Register of Waqfs, appears in the survey of waqfs, or was uploaded on the UMEED portal.
- Check what has actually been happening. Who has approved trustee changes so far, and where have accounts and returns been filed?
- If the answers point in different directions, take advice before the next filing. A notice from the Waqf Board saying your trust is a waqf is open to response. Under Section 40 of the Waqf Act, the Board has to make an inquiry, with notice to the persons concerned, before deciding that a property is waqf property.
What changed in 2025
The Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 renamed the 1995 Act the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development Act, 1995 (UMEED), and made major changes. The ones a mosque or madrasa committee is most likely to meet:
- Registration on the UMEED portal. Mutawallis had six months to upload details of waqf properties. The window closed in early December 2025. The Supreme Court declined a blanket extension and left it to the Waqf Tribunal to extend time in individual cases, up to six months. The Central Government said it would not take strict action for three months after the deadline. Both of those periods have now passed. If your waqf’s properties were not uploaded, take advice on approaching the Tribunal.
- Waqf by user. The 2025 Act removed “waqf by user”, meaning recognition of a waqf from long use alone, without a deed. The Supreme Court declined to stay this in its interim order.
- Provisions on hold. On 15 September 2025, the Supreme Court stayed, among other things, the condition that a person must have practised Islam for five years to create a waqf, until rules are framed, and the provisions allowing a government officer to decide whether disputed land is waqf. It also capped the number of non-Muslim members on State Waqf Boards at three.
The challenges to the 2025 Act are listed before the Supreme Court on 4 November 2026. This section will be updated after that hearing.
Trusts in Thane district
A Muslim public trust in Thane district that is not a waqf files with the Public Trust Registration Office at Tembhi Naka, Thane (see our Thane office guide). If it is a waqf, its filings go to the Waqf Board instead, whatever its old trust number says. Trusts in Palghar file with the separate Palghar office.
Frequently asked questions
Our masjid trust has a “B” number. Are we a waqf?
Possibly, but not automatically. A “B” number only means it was registered as a Muslim religious trust. Whether it is a waqf depends on how the property was dedicated and held. A mosque used for public prayer on dedicated land will often be a waqf; a madrasa run by trustees on land they hold with a power of sale may well not be.
Can we choose which law applies?
No. It depends on the nature of the dedication, not on the founders’ preference. What founders can choose, when they set up a new institution, is how they create it: by dedicating property as waqf, or by executing a trust deed under the public trusts law.
We have been filing change reports with the Charity Commissioner for years. What happens if we are a waqf?
The institution should be brought under the Waqf Act. Past filings do not change its nature. Take advice on regularising its position with the Board, and on any orders, such as sanctions for property dealings, that were made by the wrong authority.
Where do waqf disputes go?
To the Waqf Board and, on most questions about waqf property and management, to the Waqf Tribunal. The civil courts’ jurisdiction over these questions is largely barred.
Consultations are by appointment at the chambers in Malwani MHADA, Malad (West). To fix a time, telephone +91 99301 50560 or send a message on WhatsApp.
General information, not legal advice. The 2025 amendment is still before the Supreme Court; check the current position before acting.
Related
- All Charity Commissioner and public trust guides
- Charity Commissioner, Thane
- What is a Section 22 change report?
- PTR number: how to check a trust online