The Supreme Court will hear on Monday the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act. A few weeks ago, the government blocked the implementation of two main points of this controversial law in view of questions from the Supreme Court.
The Center had informed the court on April 17 that it would not de-notify other Waqf properties, including “Waqf by User”, nor make any appointments to the Central Waqf Council and Board till May 5, the next date of hearing of the case. On behalf of the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told a bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice KV Viswanathan that the law passed by the Parliament after proper deliberation should not be suspended without hearing the side of the government.
During the hearing, the apex court said that the waqf properties already registered or declared through notification, including ‘waqf by user’, shall neither be tampered with nor de-notified till the next date of hearing. The bench then gave the Center a week’s time to file its preliminary response to the petitions challenging the legality of the law and scheduled the next hearing of the case for May 5. A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court will hear five petitions on Monday.
This batch of petitions also includes a petition filed by AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi. The Center had notified the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 last month after receiving President Draupadi Murmu’s assent on April 5. The Lok Sabha passed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill with the support of 288 members, while 232 MPs were against it. In the Rajya Sabha, 128 members voted for it and 95 against it. Several political parties, Muslim organizations and NGOs have approached the Supreme Court challenging the validity of the Act.