Supreme Court Refuses To Hear Fresh Writ Petitions Against Waqf Amendment Act, Allows Petitioners To Intervene In Ongoing Matter

The Supreme Court today (April 29) refused to entertain any further fresh writ petition challenging the Waqf Amendment Act 2025. The Court, however, granted liberty to the petitioners to withdraw the pleas and file fresh contentions as impleaders/intervenors in the ongoing hearing of the main case. The bench of CJI Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar was hearing a batch of around 11 fresh petitions challenging the Waqf Amendment. These included pleas filed by J&K MLA Arjun Singh Raju, All India Muslim Vikas Parishad, Malda Mutawallies Welfare Association, Rajya Sabha MP Derek O Brien, amongst others. Advocate for Firoz Iqbal Khan, who had filed one of the fresh petitions, contended that the term 'waqf' has its origin in the Quran, and the new Amendment completely misunderstands the concept. He insisted that his petition be heard on this aspect. The lawyers informed the bench that the fresh pleas were filed previously but were not numbered. The CJI, refusing to hear the pleas any further, said : "Nothing will be entertained now, you file an impleadment application- all of them .....some of them (pleas) are verbatim same." The Counsel for Derek O'Brien also requested that his matter be heard, considering that the petitioner was present from the very first meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee. Justice Kumar at this juncture weighed in to reiterate: "Have heard what the CJI has said? We are not entertaining writ petitions. If you have something to add to what has been said in the other writ petitions which have already been entertained, file an application - raise additional grounds if you have any, that's all." In another matter, the Counsel submitted that the only relief sought by the petitioner here is not to demolish the Portal called 'Waqf Assets Management System of India', which was made subsequent to the Sachar Committee Recommendations and contains massive data of movable and immovable properties. The CJI asserted that the Court is already seized of hearing 5 pleas relating to the validity of the amendments, and it would be appropriate for the present petitioners to raise additional grounds as impleaders in that hearing. "We are not denying anyone the opportunity of hearing, all that we are saying is 5 cases have been filed, you want to raise additional grounds, please move an application for impleadment...."When the bench was suggested to treat the present petitions as IAs instead, the CJI noted that many pleas have been copy-pasted and lack additional grounds so to say. He opined : "The difficulty is, some of them are verbatim the same, somebody has taken it from- I don't want to name that...." The bench expressly clarified that, anyone wishing to withdraw can do so and will be allowed to file an impleadment application in the ongoing hearing. "Whoever wants to withdraw, they can give it in writing, the order will come of withdrawn with liberty to file an application," the CJI said. The Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice KV Viswanathan is presently seized of the challenge to the Waqf Amendment Act 2025. On April 17, after the Bench expressed reservations about some of the provisions, the Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta submitted before the Court that (1) Non-Muslims won't be appointed to Central Waqf Councils and State Waqf Boards in terms of the amended provisions during the hearing; (2) Waqfs, including waqf-by-user, whether declared by way of notification or registration, will not be de-notified till the next date of hearing.The bench has posted the matter to May 5 at 2 PM for the next hearing. The Court changed the cause title of the case as "In Re : Waqf Amendment Act" and said that only five petitions will be heard, and that the other petitioners will be heard as intervenors.Last week, the Ministry of Minority Affairs filed a preliminary affidavit defending the amendments.The Act, passed by the Parliament on April 4, received the President's assent on April 5. The Central Government has notified the operation of the Act with effect from April 8.Case Details : FIROZ IQBAL KHAN Versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS. W.P.(C) No. 341/2025; ALL INDIA MUSLIM VIKAS PARISHAD (AIMVP) AND ORS. Versus UNION OF INDIA| Diary No. 19896-2025; SAYEED MUHAMMED HAMDULLAH Versus UNION OF INDIA| W.P.(C) No. 419/2025 IMARAT SHARIAH Versus UNION OF INDIA| W.P.(C) No. 370/2025 ARJUN SINGH RAJU AND ORS. Versus UNION OF INDIA| Diary No. 20007-2025 MD. BAIJID AMIN AND ORS. Versus UNION OF INDIA| W.P.(C) No. 429/2025 TOUSEEF AHMED KHAN Versus UNION OF INDIA| Diary No. 20184-2025 KHAJA SYED SHAH OBEDULLAH HUSSAINY AND ANR. Versus UNION OF INDIA AND ANR.| Diary No. 21028-2025 MALDA MUTAWALLIES WELFARE ASSOCIATION Versus UNION OF INDIA| Diary No. 21445-2025 DEREK O BRIEN AND ANR. Versus UNION OF INDIA| W.P.(C) No. 425/2025 MUHAMMAD ABDUL MATIN Versus UNION OF INDIA AND ANR.| Diary No. 21801-2025 DR. TASLEEM AHMED REHMANI AND ANR. Versus UNION OF INDIA...

Supreme Court Refuses To Hear Fresh Writ Petitions Against Waqf Amendment Act, Allows Petitioners To Intervene In Ongoing Matter

Anmol Kaur Bawa

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