Supreme Court to deliver crucial judgment on Waqf Amendment Act, 2025; all you need to know

The Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 was passed in Parliament in April with 288 votes in favour and 232 against in the Lok Sabha, and 128 in favour and 95 against in the Rajya Sabha

The Supreme Court will deliver its interim order on Monday regarding a batch of petitions challenging the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, a legislation that increases state control over waqf properties.

The ruling comes after the court reserved its order on May 22 after three consecutive days of arguments by both the petitioners and Centre.

“We have seen the law since the Mussalman Waqf Act of 1923. Technically, the 1923 law did not have a provision for registration, but information about the Waqf had to be provided,” the bench had observed.

“From the Waqf Act, 1954, registration was required. There was a report of 1976 which revealed why registration was necessary. From 1923 till 2025, for over 100 years, the scheme of various enactments had emphasised registration,” it added.

Issues related to Waqf Amendment Act

One of the issues relate to the power to denotify properties declared as "waqf by courts, waqf-by-user or waqf by deed" prescribed in the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025.

Apart from the issue of denotification, petitioners have raised questions over the composition of state waqf boards and the Central Waqf Council, where they contend only Muslims should operate except ex-officio members.

The third issue relates to a provision that says a waqf property will not be treated as a waqf when the collector conducts an inquiry to ascertain if the property is government land.

The Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 was passed in Parliament in April with 288 votes in favour and 232 against in the Lok Sabha, and 128 in favour and 95 against in the Rajya Sabha.

Its passage has led to widespread protests in West Bengal and other states, highlighting significant political and community divisions surrounding the law.

Centre’s stand

The Centre strongly defended the Act, saying waqf by its very nature was a "secular concept" and can't be stayed given the "presumption of constitutionality" in its favour.

Moreover, though waqf was an Islamic concept, it was not an essential part of Islam, it added.

Petitioners, however, describe the law as a “radical departure from established legal and constitutional principles.”

Kapil Sibal argued that the amendments effectively enable the government to “capture waqf through a non-judicial process.”

On April 25, the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs filed a preliminary 1,332-page affidavit defending the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 and opposed any "blanket stay" by the court on a "law having presumption of constitutionality passed by Parliament".