Challenge to the Waqf amendment: After two days of hearings, Supreme Court orders that waqf, whether registered or declared by notification, will not be denotified
As the Union files a reply in seven days, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta assured the Court that no new appointments will be made to the Central Waqf Council or State Waqf Board
Sadeeq Sherwani
Published on: 18 April 2025, 03:34 pm
ON APRIL 17, a Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar and K.V. Viswanathan continued hearing a batch of petitions challenging as well as supporting the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, for the second consecutive day.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the Union, while opening the submissions on behalf of the respondents on Thursday, requested for a week’s time to file a preliminary short reply in the matter and to place certain material on record that would help the bench understand the “fallout” of staying the application of the Amendment Act even at the interim stage.
Chief Justice Khanna accepted Mehta’s request and granted him seven days to file a short reply stating that any rejoinder(s) thereto may be filed within five days of the receipt of the notice thereafter. However, it was ordered that in the meantime no appointments under Sections 9 and 14 of the amended Act to the Central Waqf Council and the State Waqf Boards, respectively, will be made.
The Court also ordered that any waqf, whether registered or declared by notification, including any ‘waqf-by-user’, shall not be denotified. It was clarified that “registered” means registered under the provisions of the 1995 Act. The bench emphasized their belief in the principle of separation of powers, but indicated that they do not want the position to change.
CJI Khanna also stated that the Court would only entertain five petitions and asked the petitioners to identify and decide which five they want to be treated as the lead petitions. The remaining would be treated as applications within these lead petitions. Further, the batch of petitions would not be referred to by the name of the parties, but rather as ‘In re: The Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025.’
The parties were also told to appoint nodal counsels amongst themselves. While the petitioners appointed advocate Ejaz Maqbool, the respondents appointed advocate Kanu Agrawal.
CJI Khanna also stated that the Court would only entertain five petitions and asked the petitioners to identify and decide which five petitions they want to be treated as the lead petitions.
The bench was informed that certain petitions challenging the validity of the 1995 Act and its 2013 amendment were also listed along with the present batch of petitions. The bench ordered that these petitions shall be listed separately and the petitioners challenging the 2025 Amendment Act along with any Waqf boards and/or the state governments would be at liberty to file their responses in these petitions within seven days, and any rejoinder thereto will be filed within five days thereafter.
The petitioners challenging the validity of the 1995 Act have appointed advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain as their nodal counsel.
