SC Reserves Interim Orders On Waqf Amendment Act After Hearing Key Challenges
The Supreme Court reserved orders on challenges to the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, focusing on denotification powers, board composition, and property inquiries.
The Supreme Court reserved its interim orders on Thursday on three issues, including the power to denotify properties as “waqf by courts, waqf by user or waqf by deed” after hearing a clutch of pleas challenging the validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025. A bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih heard senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Rajeev Dhavan and Abhishek Singhvi on behalf of those opposed to the amended waqf law and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, for about three consecutive days.
The centre defended the act strongly, saying that waqf by its very nature is a “secular concept” and can't be stayed given the “presumption of constitutionality” in its favour. Leading the petitioners, Sibal described the law as a complete departure from historical legal and constitutional principles and a means to capture waqf through a non-judicial process.
“This is a case about the systematic capture of waqf properties. The government cannot dictate what issues can be raised,” Sibal said, as quoted by news agency PTI.
The petitioners, according to news agency PTI, sought interim orders on three key issues.
One of the issues is related to the power to denotify properties declared as waqf by courts, waqf-by-user or waqf by deed. The second issue was over the composition of state waqf boards and the Central Waqf Council, where they contend only Muslims should operate except ex-officio members, whereas the last one is over the provision stipulating a waqf property won't be treated as a waqf when the collector conducts an inquiry to ascertain if the property is government land, reports news agency PTI.
Earlier, the Union Ministry Of Minority Affairs filed a preliminary 1,332-page affidavit defending the amended Waqf Act of 2025 and opposed any blanket stay by the court on a law having presumption of constitutionality passed by Parliament.
(With inputs from PTI)
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