CJI-led bench to hear today pleas against Waqf Amendment Act

New Delhi, April 16 (IANS) The Supreme Court is slated to hear a clutch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, on Wednesday.

As per the cause list published on the apex court website, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Sanjeev Khanna and comprising Justices Sanjay Kumar and K.V. Viswanathan will take up the matter for hearing on April 16 at 2 p.m.

Multiple petitions have been filed before the top court challenging the constitutional validity of the recent amendments introduced in the Waqf Act, 1995.

In response to the petitions seeking a stay on the implementation of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, the Union government has filed a caveat in the Supreme Court. A caveat serves as a notice submitted to a court by a party to a litigation who wishes to be heard in case any stay order is likely to be issued on the opponent's plea. Also, several BJP-ruled states, including Haryana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Assam and Uttarakhand, have approached the Supreme Court seeking to defend the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025.

After the legislation was passed by Parliament in the first week of April, the Congress announced it will challenge the Waqf (Amendment) Bill (now an Act after the Presidential assent) before the Supreme Court, claiming that it was an attack on the basic structure of the Constitution and was aimed at "polarising" and "dividing" the country on the basis of religion.

On the other hand, the government has said that crores of poor Muslims will benefit from this legislation, and in no way does it harm any single Muslim.

Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju has said the legislation did not interfere with the Waqf properties, adding that the Modi government works with the vision of 'Sabka Saath and Sabka Vikas'.

In his petition filed before the apex court, Congress MP and party whip in Lok Sabha Mohammad Jawed contended that the amendments violated Articles 14 (right to equality), 25 (freedom to practice and propagate religion), 26 (freedom of religious denominations to manage their religious affairs), 29 (minority rights), and 300A (right to property) of the Constitution.

Another plea filed by All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi said the impugned amendments are "ex facie violative of Articles 14, 15, 21, 25, 26, 29, 30, 300A of the Constitution of India and manifestly arbitrary".

Several others, including the Association for Protection of Civil Rights, AAP leader Amanatullah Khan, Maulana Arshad Madani of Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), the Indian Union Muslim League, Taiyyab Khan Salmani, and Anjum Kadari, have filed petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025.

The concept of ‘Waqf’, rooted in Islamic laws and traditions, refers to an endowment made by a Muslim for charitable or religious purposes, such as mosques, schools, hospitals, or other public institutions.

--IANS

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