The Supreme Court on Monday, while refusing to stay the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 in its entirety, stalled certain provisions of it, including the one that said only those who are practising Islam for the last five years can create a waqf.
A bench of chief justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih pronounced the interim verdict after noting that certain sections needed protection.
“We have found that the entire act is challenged, but basic challenge was sections 3(r), 3C, 14. We have gone to legislative history from the 1923 Act and considered prima facie challenge to each section and hearing parties were not made out for entire statute. But sections which are under challenge, we have granted stay,” the bench observed.
Key sections that have been stayed by Supreme Court
Five-year practice rule: Section 3(1)(r), which mandated that a person should be a practitioner of Islam for five years to create a Waqf, will remain suspended until states frame rules to verify this requirement.
Encroachment disputes clause put on hold: The top court also stayed the proviso to Section 3C(2) of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, which stated that a Waqf property would not be treated as such till the designated officer of the government submits a report on whether the land was encroached.
It also stayed Section 3C(3), which provided that “in case the designated officer determines the property to be government property, he shall make necessary corrections in revenue records and submit a report in this regard to the state government".
Furthermore, Section 3C(4) has also been stayed. The clause mandated that the state government, on receiving the report of the designated officer, direct the Waqf Board to make appropriate corrections in its records.
"Permitting the collector to determine the rights of the properties is against the doctrine of separation of powers as the Executive can't be permitted to determine the rights of citizens," CJI Gavai observed, according to a report by Live Law.
Non-Muslim representation in boards: The Court stated that no more than three non-Muslims should be included in state Waqf boards, and no more than four non-Muslims in the central Waqf Council for now.
It directed that as far as possible the chief executive officer of the Waqf Board should be a Muslim, while refusing to stay the amendment allowing the appointment of a non-Muslim as a CEO.
"Though we are not inclined to stay Section 23, we direct that as far as possible, efforts should be made to appoint the chief executive officer of the Board, who is the ex-officio secretary, from amongst the Muslim community," the court rule, according to the Live Law report.
The Court did not interfere with the Waqf registration requirement, noting, “We have held registration existed since 1995 to 2013, and again now. So we have held registration is not new.”
This came after the top court on May 22 had reserved its order on three key issues, including the power to denotify properties declared as "waqf by courts, waqf-by-user or waqf by deed", which cropped up during the hearing of pleas challenging the validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025.
Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025
The Lok Sabha passed the Waqf (Amendment) Act on April 3, while the Rajya Sabha approved it on April 4. The amendment received Presidential assent on April 5.
This new law amends the Waqf Act of 1995, aiming to regulate Waqf properties, which are dedicated exclusively for religious or charitable purposes under Islamic law.
Several petitions have been filed before the top court challenging the validity of the amendment, including those by Congress MP Mohammad Jawed and AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi. Additional petitions have followed in the subsequent days.
The petitioners argue that the amendments specifically target Muslim religious endowments and infringe upon the community's constitutionally protected right to manage its own religious affairs.
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