Petitions Challenging Waqf Amendment Act 2025 Mentioned Before Supreme Court For Urgent Listing

The petitions filed in the Supreme Court challenging the Waqf Amendment Act 2025 were mentioned before the Chief Justice of India today seeking urgent listing.Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal mentioned the petition filed by Maulana Arshad Madani, the President of the Islamic cleric's body Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind.CJI Sanjiv Khanna asked Sibal why the oral mentioning is being made when there is a system in place to seek urgent listing by sending of email. CJI asked Sibal to move a mentioning letter. When Sibal said that the same has already been done, CJI said that he would do the needful after examining it this afternoon. "All the urgent matters, including (inaudible) will be placed before me in the afternoon....why are you mentioning when we have a system in place?" CJI said. When Sibal informed that he had sent the letter for mentioning, CJI said that he would examine them in the afternoon and do the needful"It will be placed before me in the afternoon, I will do the needful," CJI said.Advocate Nizam Pasha mentioned the petition filed by Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi.Notably, the Impugned Act was given Presidential Assent on April 5 after the Parliament passed it on April 4 with hours of discussion. Kerala Sunni scholars' body Samastha Kerala Jamiatul Ulema on April 6 also filed a writ petition challenging the Act.Apart from the present challenge to the Act, 3 other petitions had also been filed challenging the Waqf Bill before it got the Assent of the President. These petitions were filed by Amanatullah Khan, Member of the Delhi Legislative Assembly, ˘belonging to the Aam Aadmi Party, Congress MP Mohammad Jawed and the NGO Association for Protection of Civil Rights.Grounds Of Challenge By Arshad MadaniThe petition, filed by Advocate Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi, challenges various provisions of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, terming them unconstitutional and destructive to the waqf administration and jurisprudence in India. It seeks an interim direction from the Court directing the Union of India to defer the issuance of notification under Section 1(2) of the Amendment Act, which would operationalise the legislation. It is contended that once notified, several waqf properties would be vulnerable due to the mandatory timelines for uploading details on the Portal and Database envisaged under the amendment, threatening the very existence of a large number of historical waqfs—particularly those created by oral dedication or without formal deeds.The petition takes strong exception to the removal of the concept of "waqf by user," which has long been a rule of evidence in Indian waqf jurisprudence and was specifically recognized by the Supreme Court in the Ramjanmabhumi-Babri Masjid Judgment. The removal undermines the lived realities of Islamic charitable practices and disenfranchises long-standing community institutions such as mosques and graveyards, many of which lack formal documentation due to their historical origins. It also challenges Section 3D and 3E added by way of an amendment moved by Shri Kiren Rijiju during Lok Sabha debates on 02 April which stipulate that Waqf-declaration over ASI-protected monuments would be invalid and no waqf could be created for properties of Scheduled Scheduled Tribes.Further, the petition challenges the recomposition of both the Central Waqf Council and the State Waqf Boards, where prior requirements mandating Muslim-majority membership have been diluted or entirely removed. This, the petition argues, is an unconstitutional interference in the religious community's right to manage its own affairs in matters of religion and property. It also challenges the removal of a similar requirement for the CEO of the Boards to be Muslims.

Petitions Challenging Waqf Amendment Act 2025 Mentioned Before Supreme Court For Urgent Listing

Anmol Kaur Bawa

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