Trust Following Sree Narayana Guru's Teachings Opposes Waqf Amendment Act 2025 In Supreme Court

Sree Narayana Manava Dharmam Trust, an organisation established to study and disseminate the values and teachings of Sree Narayana Guru, has sought intervention in a batch of petitions challenging the constitutionality of the Waqf (Amendment) 2025. The intervention application, filed in the Supreme Court on April 3, 2025, supports the challenge against the constitutionality of the 2025 amendments.A key figure in India's reformist tradition, Sree Narayana Guru's contributions spanned the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly in challenging caste hierarchies in Kerala.Since Sree Narayana Guru supported religious harmony and the well-being of all people, the Trust said it cannot remain an "idle spectator to the devastating impact of the Waqf Amendment Act on the Muslim community of India and to social justice in our country".It is stated that the impugned Amendment Act is a "fraud on the Constitution."They have submitted that the amendment, in effect, abolishes and ends the ancient Muslim religious practice of Waqf in India and has created instead an unconstitutional new state-designed mechanism to control and constrain Muslim charity. It is stated that the cumulative impact of the impugned Act has to be taken as a whole. "This is because the arrangement for charity by Muslims created by the Impugned Act is not Waqf by any stretch of the imagination, as it totally lacks the most essential elements of a Waqf. What is left after the enactment of the Impugned Act is in law and in reality, not a Waqf institution at all from a legal or theological point of view. The Parliament has no power to abolish and obliterate an ancient religious custom and usage such as the Waqf institution (treated by Muslims as an act of worship) which is protected inter alia by Articles 13 and 29(1) of the Constitution."It has also been stated that the cumulative impact of the 2025 Amendment is that it imposes on the entire Muslim community an unconstitutional "sui generis state-designed" and "state-imposed scheme" for controlling charitable donations by Muslims, which are presented as waqf, but in reality, is not waqf.Various provisions, including the omission of the 'waqf by user' clause, have been challenged. It has been stated that the impugned Act explicitly but erroneously treat the waqf mechanism as a non-religious institution. It thus deletes in its entirety the body of Islamic law as the basic governing law of waqf. The intervention application also notes: "The Impugned Act fatally breaches the religious requirement that Waqf must be administered strictly in accordance with democratic norms by replacing election with appointment as the method of choosing Waqf Board members, imposing the non-democratic norms of Brahmanism on the Waqf." The intervention application has been drawn and settled by Advocates Dr G. Mohan Gopal and Vaibhav Choudhary.A bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, Justice KV Viswanathan and Justice Sanjay Kumar will continue hearing the matter today at 2 pm on preliminary objections and interim direction, if any.Case Details: IN RE THE WAQF (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2025| W.P.(C) No. 276/2025

Trust Following Sree Narayana Guru's Teachings Opposes Waqf Amendment Act 2025 In Supreme Court

Gursimran Kaur Bakshi

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