Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 17: The Supreme Court on Thursday refrained from issuing any interim order staying some of the provisions of the contentious provisions of the Waqf Amendment Act after the Centre assured the court that no alteration to the status of the existing Waqf properties or the constitution of the Waqf boards would be made till the next hearing of the case on May 5.
The court on Wednesday had indicated that it may stay some of the provisions of the amended Waqf Act, particularly the changes in “Waqf by user” and the proposal to include non-Muslims in Waqf boards. But the court avoided issuing any order after the Centre’s assurance that it would refrain from denotifying properties previously declared as Waqf by courts and that no appointments would be made to the Central Waqf Council or the State Waqf Boards until the matter is next heard on May 5.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna, and comprising Justices P.V. Sanjay Kumar and K.V. Viswanathan, was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf amendment act. The court further granted the Centre a week to file its response to the petitions challenging the validity of the Act.
In the previous hearing, the top court scrutinised key provisions of the law, including the de-recognition of the Waqf-by-user category of properties, the inclusion of non-Muslims in Waqf administrative bodies and the power granted to the state to change the status of disputed Waqf land.
The petitioners have contended that Waqfs — including their creation, management, and administration — constitute an integral aspect of the practice of Islam and are therefore entitled to constitutional protection. However, the government has defended the amendments as measures aimed at ensuring greater transparency and accountability.
Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala welcomed the Supreme Court order on the Waqf (Amendment) Act and said it was a vindication of the stand taken by his party and other opposition outfits on the contentious legislation. Addressing a press conference, the former Kerala Minister maintained the Act was against the Constitution.
Asked about the SC ruling, Mr Chennithala said, “It is a good step. We welcome it. The Supreme Court has asked that status quo be maintained and directed the Centre to respond in a week (to pleas against newly-amended Waqf law). The Centre should respond to the questions asked by the apex court.”
AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi called the Waqf Act ‘unconstitutional’ after the Supreme Court on Thursday recorded the Centre’s request for additional time to file a response in the matter related to the Waqf Act. Speaking to the media, Mr Owaisi said, “We consider this Act unconstitutional. The Court has said the Central Waqf Council and the State Waqf Council will not be constituted, and ‘Waqf by user’ cannot be deleted.”
Calling the Act unconstitutional, Mr Owaisi said, “during the deliberations of the JPC, I gave a report opposing all amendments proposed by the government, and during the debate on the bill, I called the bill unconstitutional. Our legal battle against this Act will continue.”
During the previous hearing on Wednesday, the Chief Justice went on to propose a three-point interim order to “balance equities” on all sides in the case. Firstly, he suggested that properties already declared Waqf by courts need not, for the time being, be de-notified or treated as non-Waqf properties. These would include properties categorised as ‘Waqf-by-user’ or Waqf by long usage without formal documentation or registration, Waqf by declaration or “otherwise.”
Secondly, the CJI mooted that the designated government officer could continue to look into whether a property was Waqf or government, but a connected proviso freezing the use of the property in the meanwhile as Waqf (a property dedicated to Allah for charitable or religious purposes under Islam) could be stayed. Thirdly, the Chief Justice mulled stopping the appointment of non-Muslims as ex-officio members in the Central Waqf Council and Waqf Boards, provided the other members were Muslims.
However, Muslim cleric Chaudhary Ifraheem Husain has criticised the opposition’s petitions against the Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025 in Supreme Court, stating they are misleading and trying to waste the court’s time. Mr Husain said, “After the amendments were made and the hearing was conducted in the Supreme Court, a bench has now been set up for this case. We believe the petitions from the opposition are misguided. They lack confidence in the constitution, as the government was elected by the people, approved by both Houses of Parliament, and signed by the President. Even after all this, these people went to court, trying to mislead and waste the court’s time. They are trying to undermine the court’s work.”
He further added, “Instead of focusing on correcting their own mistakes and addressing the land mafia issues they were involved in, they are creating obstacles. We hope the court will reject their claims, and they will be held accountable for wasting the court’s time. The Waqf Amendment Bill passed by the government was in the interest of the poor, and they will not succeed in stopping it.”
All India Shia Personal Law Board (AISPLB) General Secretary Maulana Yasoob Abbas, expressed hope in the Supreme Court, saying the Court’s observations while hearing the petitions against the Waqf Amendment Act have raised faith in the judiciary. Maulana Abbas, while emphasising the importance of resolving issues within the constitutional framework, urged people to uphold unity and brotherhood, and to ensure that peace in the country is not disrupted.
“Today is the second day of the hearing, and I hope that the Supreme Court will do justice for us. The way the Court heard the case yesterday has raised our hopes. If the judiciary does not deliver justice, then where will a person go? We are trying to resolve all matters while staying within the framework of the Constitution,” he said.
After the Supreme Court’s observations while hearing the petition challenging the Waqf Amendment Act, Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said the questions raised by the top court were the same as those that the Congress party raised in the Joint Parliamentary Committee. “The questions raised by the Supreme Court are the same ones that the Congress party had raised in the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC). Today, there will be a hearing, and it is the Supreme Court’s responsibility to take strict action if the Constitution is being trampled upon anywhere,” the Congress leader said.
While the opposition interpreted the government’s step back as a victory by the petitioners, the government see the proceedings differently. An interim stay order from the Supreme Court on a law, which is the biggest initiative in Modi government 3.0, would have been embarrassing. The Act, in any case, was not getting implemented immediately since the rules had not been framed or notified yet.
For the Citizenship Amendment Act too, the government took its time to notify the rules. CAA rules were notified four years after Parliament passed the Act. By then, the Shaheen Bagh protest sites had been emptied, tempers cooled, and “misinformation about the Act trying to take away citizenship” negated.
For Waqf too, the government might be willing to wait it out. Some of the provisions of the original bill were changed after allies like the TDP and JD(U) suggested changes in the joint parliamentary committee (JPC). The government is hopeful that it will be able to convince the apex court about the need for the Waqf law to weed out anomalies that have crept in. The fact that the SC observed that some “Waqf by user” indeed was an abuse of norms (Delhi HC land being claimed as Waqf land) is also being seen positively by the government.
Nearly half of the 8 lakh-odd Waqf properties in India are ‘Waqf by User’ meaning they got designated as Waqf because they were used for Muslim religious places for long. The Supreme Court said on Thursday that such properties would not be de-notified as ‘Waqf by User’ for now, which was proposed by the new Waqf Amendment Law, 2025.
The new law says that the existing ‘Waqf by User’ properties registered on or before the commencement of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 will remain as Waqf properties “except that the property, wholly or in part, is in dispute or is a government property.” This meant that disputed or government-claimed ‘Waqf by user’ properties would lose their status.
