On 17 April, the SC granted the Centre a week’s time to file a response to the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the controversial law. The government had then assured the apex court that it would neither denotify waqf properties, including “waqf by user”, nor make any appointments to the Central Waqf Council and boards till May 5.
The Centre opposed the apex court’s proposal to pass an interim order against the denotification of Waqf properties, including ‘waqf by user’, aside from staying a provision allowing the inclusion of non-Muslims in the Central Waqf Council and boards.
The three-judge bench of the Supreme Court will hear on Monday the batch of five petitions which are now titled In Re the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 and other related fresh pleas on the issue. The batch of pleas include the one filed by AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, news agency PTI said.
On the eve of the hearing, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) accused the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union government of submitting incorrect data in the Supreme Court in the ongoing case against the Waqf Law.
The apex body of Muslim clerics in India has sought action against the officer concerned in the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs for filing what it calls a ‘false affidavit’.
In its affidavit on April 25, the Centre defended the amended Act and opposed any “blanket stay” by the court on a “law having presumption of constitutionality passed by Parliament”. Justifying a provision on “waqf by user” properties, it said any interference would create a “legislative regime by a judicial order”.
Waqf by user refers to a practice where a property is recognised as a religious or charitable endowment (waqf) based on its long-term, uninterrupted use for such purposes, even if there isn’t a formal and written declaration of waqf by the owner.
The Board has objections to the Centre’s statement that the number of Waqf properties uploaded to the central portal after 2013 has “shockingly increased by 116 per cent,” news agency PTI reported.
“Right before even the Mughal era, pre-Independence era and post-Independence era, the total of wakfs created was 18,29,163.896 acres of land in India,” the Centre claimed, in the affidavit, “Shockingly, after 2013, the addition of wakf land is 20,92,072.536 acres.”
The top court recently refused to entertain any fresh plea against the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, saying it had already been made clear that the court would hear only five of the over 70 litigants on the issue.
The Centre notified the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 last month after it got President Droupadi Murmu’s assent on April 5. The Bill was cleared by the Lok Sabha with the support of 288 members while 232 MPs were against it. The Rajya Sabha saw 128 members voting in its favour and 95 against it.
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board has accused the Union government of submitting incorrect data in the ongoing case against the Waqf Law.
Several political parties such as the DMK, YSRCP, AIMIM, the Left parties, civil society groups such as NGOs, Muslim bodies and others have moved the apex court challenging the validity of the Act.
Waqf Act, Supreme Court, constitutional validity, religious endowments, property rights, India, waqf law, aimplb, centre, ministry of minority affairs, controversial waqf law, asaduddin owaisi
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