"This is a very important matter. Issue notice, " a bench comprising Chief Justice P Sathasivam and justices Ranjana P Desai and Shiv Kirti Singh said.
Besides the Minority Affairs Ministry and various Wakf boards, the bench also asked National Informatics Centre to file their responses to the PIL filed by a Uttar Pradesh-based NGO Manav Vikas Sewa Samiti through its president Saleem Baig.
The NGO, in in its plea, said the Centre, in pursuance of a report of a joint parliamentary committee, had issued an order on December 18, last year, to all Wakf boards for computerisation of their documents and details of properties attached to them in all the states.
"Waqf properties are spread all over the country but even the basic surveys of Waqf properties have not been done in most of the states. There is hardly any development of Waqf properties and a very substantial income that the Waqf properties could have generated for the welfare schemes of the community are lost because of non-development and large scale encroachment of Waqf properties," it said.
It cited illustrations in which Delhi Wakf Board declined information on the ground that it lacked "wherewithal" to provide voluminous response.
In the other case, Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board demanded Rs 4 lakh as the cost of information to be provided under the transparency law.