SC to hear multiple pleas challenging Waqf Act today

New Delhi, May 5 (IANS) The Supreme Court is set to resume hearings Monday on a series of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, a contentious piece of legislation that has sparked nationwide debate and drawn over 70 legal challenges from across the country.

The matter will be taken up by a bench led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, along with Justices Sanjay Kumar and K.V. Viswanathan.

In the previous hearing, the top court directed the Central Government to respond within seven days on the issue of 'waqf by user,'a key provision under scrutiny. Although the Court has not stayed the operation of the Act as a whole, it issued clear directions that no new appointments are to be made to the Waqf Boards and that the status quo will be maintained concerning properties registered under 'waqf by user'.

During the course of the hearing, the Union government assured the Supreme Court that it would not de-notify provisions related to 'waqf by user' or include non-Muslim members in the Waqf Board.

The Solicitor General of India, Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, assured the court that no precipitative action would be taken during this interim period.

He also emphasised that the Act was passed by Parliament following "due deliberation" and urged the bench not to impose a stay without first hearing the government’s detailed stance.

The Centre has also opposed the Court’s suggestion to temporarily halt the denotification of Waqf properties and provisions allowing for the inclusion of non-Muslims in the Central Waqf Council and state Waqf Boards.

The Supreme Court noted the Centre’s submission and recorded that no previously notified or registered Waqf properties, including those under ‘waqf by user’, shall be altered or denotified until the next hearing.

Earlier on April 28, 2025, the Supreme Court refused to entertain a fresh petition challenging the recent amendments to the Waqf Act, 1995.

A bench, headed by CJI Sanjiv Khanna, told the petitioner that it cannot deal with hundreds of petitions on the same issue and that the petitioner may choose to file an intervention application in the petitions challenging the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, if so advised.

--IANS

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