The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) on Monday filed separate petitions in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf Amendment Act 2025.
Terming the Act an infringement of minority rights, the IUML roped in Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal to represent the Kerala-based political party.
IUML National General Secretary PK Kunhalikutty reportedly visited New Delhi on April 6 to hold talks with Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal.
Samastha Kerala Jem Iyyathul Ulema, a body of Sunni scholars, is also contemplating to move the Supreme Court against the Act, calling it a violation of fundamental rights of the minority community protected under Article 26 of the Constitution.
The Waqf (Amendment), Bill, 2025, which aimed to regulate the Waqf properties by proposing amendments in the Waqf Act, 1995, became a law on April 5, after President Droupadi Murmu gave her nod to the same.
The Bill was passed by both Houses of Parliament earlier this week after heated debates.
The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025 was first introduced in the Lok Sabha in August 2024.
The legislation was later sent to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), which accepted suggestions for certain amendments.
Waqf refers to properties dedicated exclusively for religious or charitable purposes under the Islamic law. The Waqf Act, 1995, was enacted to govern the administration of waqf properties (religious endowments) in India.
It provides for the power and functions of the Waqf Council, State Waqf Boards, the Chief Executive Officer, and the mutawalli. The Act further speaks about the power and restrictions of Waqf Tribunals, which act in lieu of a civil court under its jurisdiction.
The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, seeks to rename the 1995 Act to the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development Act, reflecting its broader objective to improve the management and efficiency of Waqf boards and properties.
While the Act allowed waqf to be formed by declaration, long-term use, or endowment, the Bill states that only a person practicing Islam for at least five years may declare a waqf. It clarifies that the person must own the property being declared. It removes waqf by user, where properties could be deemed as waqf based solely on prolonged use for religious purposes. It also adds that waqf-alal-aulad must not result in the denial of inheritance rights to the donor’s heir including women heirs.
While the Act empowered the Waqf Board to inquire and determine if a property is waqf, the Bill removes this provision.
The Bill provides that two members of the Central Waqf Council, set up to advise the Central and State governments and waqf boards, must be non-Muslims. Members of Parliament, former judges, and eminent persons appointed to the Council as per the Act need not be Muslims. Representatives of Muslim organisations, scholars in Islamic law and chairpersons of Waqf Boards must be Muslims. Of the Muslim members, two must be women.
The Bill empowers the Central government to make rules regarding the registration and publication of accounts of waqf, along with the publication of proceedings of Waqf Boards.
Under the Act, State governments could get the accounts of Waqfs audited at any point. The Bill empowers the Central government to get these audited by the CAG or a designated officer.
On April 4, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Member of Parliament Asaduddin Owaisi and Congress party whip in the Lok Sabha Mohammad Jawed moved the Apex Court against the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025.
The two MPs filed separate petitions in the top court of the country challenging the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which aimed to regulate the Waqf properties by proposing amendments in the Waqf Act, 1995.
While Owaisi termed the Bill as unconstitutional, Jawed called it discriminatory towards the Muslim community and violating their fundamental rights.
Jawed contended that the Bill violated Article 14 (right to equality), 25 (freedom to practice religion), 26 (freedom to manage religious affairs), 29 (minority rights) and 300A (right to property) of the Constitution.
The Congress party whip in the Lok Sabha was a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024.
Filed by Advocate Anas Tanwir, Jawed’s petition alleged that the Bill discriminated against the Muslim community by imposing restrictions that were not present in the governance of other religious endowments.
He said while the Hindu and Sikh religious trusts continued to enjoy a degree of self-regulation, the amendments to the Waqf Act, 1995 disproportionately increased state intervention in Waqf affairs.
Such differential treatment amounted to a violation of Article 14 in addition to the introduction of arbitrary classifications that lacked a reasonable nexus to the objectives sought to be achieved, making it impermissible under the doctrine of manifest arbitrariness, he added.
Jawed said the Bill introduces restrictions on the creation of Waqfs based on the duration of one’s religious practice. Such a limitation was unfounded in Islamic law, customs or precedents, and infringed upon the fundamental right to profess and practice religion under Article 25.
The restriction further discriminated against individuals who had recently converted to Islam and wished to dedicate property for religious or charitable purposes, thereby violating Article 15, noted the petition.
The plea contended that the proposed amendment to the composition of the Waqf Board and the Central Waqf Council, mandating the inclusion of non-Muslim members in Waqf administrative bodies, was an unwarranted interference in religious governance, unlike Hindu religious endowments, which remained exclusively managed by Hindus under various state enactments.
The petition submitted that this selective intervention, without imposing similar conditions on other religious institutions, was an arbitrary classification and violated Articles 14 & 15.
During the Lok Sabha debate, Owaisi called the Bill a grave violation of Articles 14 and 26 of the Constitution.
The AIMIM MP said that Muslims would face restrictions on waqf property and the encroacher would overnight become the owner. A non-Muslim would administer the process, he added.
The MP further alleged that the Bill discriminated against Muslims by stripping them of administrative control over waqf properties.
Noting that the Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists have been given the right to administer their religious groups, Owaisi asked why the same rights were being taken away from Muslims.
Tearing a copy of the legislation, Owaisi termed it a mockery of democracy. He alleged that the government was trying to nominate it’s pawns in the Waqf Council and Waqf Board by calling them religion-neutral.