Mukesh Ambani and Nita Ambani’s Rs 15,000 crore residence Antilia is built on…, claims Waqf Board; will Ambanis have to vacate home if amendment bill is…
The Lok Sabha, which discussed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill on Wednesday, passed it past midnight after a marathon debate. Meanwhile, in the early hours of Friday, the Rajya Sabha passed the Waqf Amendment Bill 2025 after a heated debate. The Bill passed in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha now awaits President Droupadi Murmu’s assent to become an Act.
The government introduced the revised bill after incorporating the recommendations of the Joint Parliamentary Committee, which examined the legislation introduced in August last year. The bill seeks to amend the Act of 1995 and improve the administration and management of waqf properties in India.
The Bill aims to overcome the shortcomings of the previous act and enhance the efficiency of Waqf boards, improving the registration process and increasing the role of technology in managing Waqf records. Now, India’s richest industrialist, Mukesh Ambani’s residence, Rs 15000 Antilia, has once again become a topic of discussion amid the headlines surrounding the Waqf Amendment Bill.
Old clips of leaders such as former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi are going viral on social media platforms. In these videos, they can be seen alleging that Mukesh Ambani’s private residence, Antilia, is built on land owned by the Waqf Board.
Netizens on social media have started questioning the AI tool Grok about who owns the land where Mukesh Ambani’s expensive residence, Antilia, is built. In its response, Grok states that the land once belonged to an orphanage and was sold in 2002.
A decade-old report on Dainik Bhaskar.com referenced an Action Taken Report (ATR) submitted by the Waqf Board, which alleged that due procedures were not followed in the sale of land to Mukesh Ambani, cited Back then, Maharashtra’s Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP, had assured that his government would take necessary action based on the findings of that report.
According to the report, the land purchased for Mukesh Ambani’s residence required a two-thirds majority approval from the Waqf Board members. However, no official board meeting was held regarding the transaction. The decision made by the Charity Commissioner was also challenged, with the report asserting that only the Waqf Board has the legal authority to decide on such matters—not the Charity Commissioner.
According to the report presented in the Maharashtra Assembly, Waqf Board property cannot be sold for private use. The matter has been pending in court for a long time. It is now suggested that the concerned parties — the Kareem Bhai Trust and the Waqf Board — come together to resolve the issue amicably.
It is worth mentioning that Mukesh Ambani purchased a 4,532.39 square meter plot in Mumbai in 2002 for ₹21.5 crore to build his residence, ‘Antilia.’ The deal sparked controversy at the time due to claims that the land belonged to the Waqf Board.
According to the Action Taken Report (ATR) presented in the Maharashtra Assembly, the land had originally been donated to the Waqf Board in 1986 by Kareem Bhai Ibrahim for the purpose of establishing a religious educational institution and an orphanage. However, the Board later sold it to Ambani.
A land dispute involving Waqf claims is not an isolated case—there are numerous such cases across India. To put it in perspective, in 1950, the Waqf Board had ownership of just 52,000 acres of land in the country. By 2025, that figure has grown significantly to over 9.4 lakh (940,000) acres.
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