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The Supreme Court will today pronounce its interim orders 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.
A bench headed by Chief Justice BR Gavai on 22 May reserved the interim orders on these issues after hearing both sides in the waqf case.
According to the cause list uploaded on the apex court website on 15 September, the court will deliver its order in the matter at around 10.30 AM.
One of the issues relates 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.
Before reserving the interim order, the bench heard arguments on three consecutive days from advocates appearing for those challenging the amended waqf law and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre.
The bench previously identified the three issues on which the petitioners sought a stay for passing interim orders.
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 Centre strongly defended the Act, saying waqf was a “secular concept” by its very nature and could not be stayed given the “presumption of constitutionality” in its favour.
Moreover, though waqf is an Islamic concept, it is not an essential part of Islam, the statement added.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, leading the petitioners, described the law as a “complete departure from historical legal and constitutional principles” and a means to “capture waqf through a non-judicial process”.
On 25 April, the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs filed a preliminary 1,332-page affidavit defending the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, and opposing any “blanket stay” by the court on a “law having presumption of constitutionality passed by Parliament.”
The Centre notified the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 on 8 April after it got President Droupadi Murmu‘s assent on 5 April.
The law represents a complete departure from historical legal and constitutional principles.
The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha passed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, in April this year.
(With agency inputs)
