New Delhi | The Supreme Court on Tuesday posted to January 21 next year the hearing on the pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025.
A bench comprising Justices MM Sundresh and PB Varale asked the parties in the case to complete the pleadings in the matter by December 31.
"We permit the applicants who filed interlocutory applications and were directed to be taken in that capacity to file writ petitions within two weeks from today. Copy to be served on nodal counsel, who is directed to compile and include judgments relied upon by the petitioners. Additional Solicitor General to respond to the written submissions made. The pleadings shall be completed by December 31, 2026," the bench said.
As the matter came up for hearing, the nodal counsel told the court that five lead petitions were identified earlier while 135 petitions were converted to interlocutory applications.
He proposed that all parties may file written submissions and it will be compiled.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, pointed to the April 17, 2025, order by which only five lead petitions were taken up to avoid an unmanageable volume of cases.
He submitted that the earlier arrangement should not be undone.
President Droupadi Murmu had given her assent to the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, after it was passed by both houses of Parliament after heated debates.
The top court on September 15 last year put on hold a few key provisions of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, including a clause that only those practising Islam for the last five years could create Waqf, but refused to stay the entire law, outlining the presumption of constitutionality in its favour.
However, in order to "protect the interest of parties" and "balancing the equities", the order stayed some provisions, including the powers accorded to a collector to adjudicate the status of Waqf properties and ruled on the issue of non-Muslim participation in Waqf Boards.
The SC, therefore, directed the Central Waqf Council not to have more than four non-Muslim members in the total composition of 20, besides asking state Waqf boards to have not more than three such members in the total of 11.
"The following part of clause (r) of Section 3 of the Amended Waqf Act 'any person showing or demonstrating that he is professing Islam for at least five years' shall stand stayed until the rules are framed by the State Government for providing a mechanism for determining the question as to whether a person has been practising Islam for at least five years or not," the top court had held.
The top court had further stayed a provision which said a property should not be treated as "Waqf property till the designated officer submits his report".
