SC to hear pleas challenging Waqf Act on April 16

A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna will hear on April 16 as many as 10 petitions, including the one filed by AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi, challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025.

According to the apex court website, besides the CJI, Justices Sanjay Kumar and KV Viswanathan are part of the three-judge bench for hearing the petitions.

In addition to Owaisi's plea, the court has listed for hearing the petitions filed by AAP leader Amanatullah Khan, Association for the Protection of Civil Rights, Arshad Madani, Samastha Kerala Jamiathul Ulema, Anjum Kadari, Taiyyab Khan Salmani, Mohammad Shafi, Mohammed Fazlurrahim and RJD leader Manoj Kumar Jha.

A few other petitions are yet to be listed before the bench by the apex court registry.

The Centre, on April 8, filed a caveat in the apex court and sought a hearing before any order was passed in the matter.

A caveat is filed by a party in the high courts and the apex court to ensure that no orders are passed without hearing it.

The central government on Tuesday notified the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, which got the assent of President Droupadi Murmu on April 5 after its passage from Parliament following heated debates in both houses.

The bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha with 128 members voting in favour and 95 opposing it.

It was cleared by the Lok Sabha with 288 members supporting it and 232 against it.

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Congress MPs Imran Pratapgarhi and Mohammad Jawed are other key petitioners.

On April 7, a bench headed by the CJI assured senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, to consider listing the petitions.

The DMK moved the top court through its deputy general secretary A Raja and said in a press release, "Despite widespread opposition, the Waqf Amendment Bill, 2025 was passed by the Union government without proper consideration of the objections raised by the members of the JPC and the other stakeholders."

The party said the immediate implementation of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 infringes and prejudices the rights of about 50 lakh Muslims in Tamil Nadu and 20 crore Muslims in other parts of the country.

The AIMPLB filed the plea in the top court late April 6.

In a press statement, SQR Ilyas, the AIMPLB spokesperson, said the petition strongly objected to the amendments passed by Parliament for being "arbitrary, discriminatory and based on exclusion".

The amendments, it said, not only violated the fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution of India but also clearly revealed the government's intention to take complete control over the administration of Waqf, therefore, sidelining the Muslim minority from managing their own religious endowments.

Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution ensure freedom of conscience, the right to practice, propagate religion, and the right to establish and manage institutions for religious and charitable purposes, it said.

The plea is settled by advocate M R Shamshad, with advocate-on-record Talha Abdul Rahman representing the Muslim personal law board, through its General Secretary Maulana Fazlur Raheem Mujaddidi.

Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind also filed a petition in the apex court, claiming it was a "dangerous conspiracy" to strip Muslims of their religious freedom.

In its petition, Jamiat said the law was a "direct attack on the country's Constitution, which not only provides equal rights to its citizens but also grants them complete religious freedom".

In its separate plea filed in the top court, Samastha Kerala Jamiathul Ulema, a religious organisation of Sunni Muslim scholars and clerics in Kerala, has claimed the Act was a "blatant intrusion" into the rights of a religious denomination to manage its own affairs in the matter of religion.

Jawed's plea alleged the Act imposed "arbitrary restrictions" on Waqf properties and their management, undermining the Muslim community's religious autonomy.

The petition, filed through advocate Anas Tanwir, said the law discriminated against the Muslim community by "imposing restrictions that are not present in the governance of other religious endowments".

In a separate plea, Owaisi said it took away from Waqfs various protection which are accorded to Waqfs, and Hindus, Jain and Sikh religious and charitable endowments alike.

"This diminishing of the protection given to Waqfs while retaining them for religious and charitable endowments of other religions constitutes hostile discrimination against Muslims and is violative of Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution, which prohibit discrimination on the grounds of religion," said Owaisi's plea, filed through advocate Lzafeer Ahmad.

NGO Association for the Protection of Civil Rights also filed a petition in the apex court challenging the constitutional validity of the Act.

AAP MLA Khan sought the law declared as unconstitutional, being violative of "Articles 14, 15, 21, 25, 26, 29, 30 and 300-A of the Constitution".

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra has also approached the Supreme Court challenging the validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025.

Moitra, who filed her plea on April 9, has said the controversial amendment not only suffered from serious procedural lapses but also violated several fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution.

“It is submitted that the violation of parliamentary practices during the law-making process has contributed to the unconstitutionality of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025,” the plea said.

”Procedurally, the Chairperson of the Joint Parliamentary Committee flouted parliamentary rules and practices both at the stage of consideration and adoption of the draft report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Waqf Amendment Bill and at the stage of presentation of the said report before Parliament,” it said. 

The plea said that dissenting opinions from the opposition MPs were reportedly redacted without justification from the final report presented in Parliament on February 13, 2025.

Such actions undermined the deliberative process of Parliament and violated established norms as outlined in authoritative parliamentary procedure manuals, it said.