After Supreme Court Hints At Stay, Centre Concedes On Waqf Amendments: Won't Appoint Non-Muslims, Status Quo On Declared Waqfs

In response to the petitions challenging the Waqf(Amendment) Act 2025, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta today made the following statements before the Supreme Court :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 Court recorded the statement in its order as follows :During the course of the hearing, Mr. Tushar Mehta, the learned Solicitor General, stated that the respondents would like to file a reply/response within a period of seven days from today. He assures this Court that till the next date of hearing, no appointments would be made to the Central Waqf Council and the Waqf Boards in the States and the National Capital Territory of Delhi, under Sections 9 and 14 respectively of the principal Act, that is, the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development Act, 1995,1 as amended by the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025. He further states that if the Government of any State or the National Capital Territory of Delhi makes any such appointment(s), the same may be declared void.It is also stated that till the next date of hearing, no Waqf, including a Waqf by user, whether declared by way of notification or by way of registration, shall be de-notified, nor will their character or status be changed."The bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice KV Viswanathan posted the matter to May 5 at 2 PM for the next hearing. The Court also changed the cause title of the case as "In Re : Waqf Amendment Act." The Court also said that only five writ petitions will be treated as the lead cases and other writ petitions will be treated as intervention applications.Yesterday, the Court had proposed to pass an interim order, after raising some concerns about the amendments. Though the Court was about to pass the order yesterday, it adjourned the matter after the Union sought time.Court expresses concerns about drastic change of status quoAt the commencement of today's hearing, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta said that the stay of a legislation, whether directly or indirectly, is an extraordinary measure, and cannot be done based on a mere tentative reading of the provisions. "We have received lakhs and lakhs of representations which contributed to some of these amendments. Villages were taken as waqfs. Private properties were taken as waqfs. This affects a large number of innocent people," SG said."Your lordships are taking a serious and harsh step by staying directly or indirectly statutory provisions without proper assistance," SG said, requesting time of one week to produce the materials.CJI Khanna then replied, "Mr. Mehta, we have a particular situation. We pointed out certain infirmities. We also said there are some positive things. But we don't want the situation prevailing today to change so drastically that it affects the rights of the parties. There are provisions such as 5 years practice of Islam, we are not staying that. Yes, you are right. There is a thumb rule, that Courts won't stay legislations ordinarily. But there is another thumb rule, when the petition is pending before the Court, the situation which is prevailing should not change so that the rights of persons are not affected." SG Tushar Mehta again raised his request for time.CJI then said that time can be granted, but on condition that non-Muslim members would not be nominated to the Waqf Boards and Central Waqf Council and that registered Waqfs wouldn't be changed. SG made a statement that no such appointments would be made. CJI however, said that the SG can only speak for the Union and cannot submit on behalf of the States (which appoint to the Boards). SG said that the Court can order that if any State makes such appointments, then it would be void.Yesterday, the Court proposed that it would issue an interim order on three issues:1. All properties declared by the Court as waqf, whether they are waqf by user or waqf by deed, would not be de-notified during the pendency of this matter. 2. The proviso which says the waqf property will not be treated as waqf while the Collector is determining its status, shall not be given effect to. 3. All members of the Central Waqf Council and the State Waqf Boards must be Muslim, except the ex-officio members. The Court had raised the following concerns in yesterday's hearing :1. Whether all waqf-by-user properties have ceased to exist as waqf?2. How can waqf-by-user properties, existing for many centuries, be asked to register? CJI gave the example of the Jama Masjid in Delhi.3. Is it fair to say that a property won't be regarded as a Waqf till the Government's authorised officer completes the enquiry into the dispute whether it is a government property?4. How can Section 2A proviso override the Court's judgments ...

After Supreme Court Hints At Stay, Centre Concedes On Waqf Amendments: Won't Appoint Non-Muslims, Status Quo On Declared Waqfs

Gursimran Kaur Bakshi

The Centre made the statement after the Supreme Court raised concerns about the drastic changes made to the Waqf law.

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