The Congress on Monday welcomed the Supreme Court’s order to curb several major provisions of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, describing it as a victory for the constitutional values of justice, equality and fraternity and said that it leads a long way towards ending the “mischievous intentions” inherent in the original law.
Congress General Secretary and Communications in -charge Jairam Ramesh said that the order of the Supreme Court on Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025 is not only a major victory for parties who opposed this arbitrary law in Parliament, but also for all the members of the Joint Parliamentary Committee who had presented wide disagreement notes, which were then ignored, but now they have been proved correct.
Ramesh said on X, “This order is important, as it will be very helpful in ending the mischievous intentions inherent in the original law.”
He said that the lawyers of the opposition parties had argued that as a result of this law, a structure would be formed where any person would be able to challenge the status of the property before the collector and the status of the property would remain uncertain during such a case.
Additionally, Ramesh said that only ‘Muslim’ practicing for five years can donate to Waqf.
He alleged, “The intention behind these sections has always been to create an administrative structure to incite voters and incite religious disputes.”
He said, “With this order, the Supreme Court has stayed the powers of the Collector; the existing Waqf properties have been saved from suspicious challenges; and the provision of giving evidence of being Muslim until the rules has been banned for five years.”
Ramesh said, “We welcome this order as a victory of constitutional values of justice, equality and brotherhood.”
The Supreme Court banned several major provisions of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, including the provision that only those who have followed Islam for the last five years can dedicate the property as Waqf, but refused to ban the entire law.
A bench of Chief Justice BR Gavai and Justice Augustine George Christ said in its interim order on this intensive debate issue, “We have assumed that prejudice is always in favor of constitutionality of a law and intervention can only be done in rare cases.”
The Supreme Court also stopped the powers given to the Collector to decide on the status of Waqf properties and while giving a verdict on the controversial issue of non-Muslim participation in Waqf boards, directed that the Central Waqf Parishad should not have more than four non-Muslim members, and the state Waqf boards should not have more than three non-Muslim members.
The Chief Justice said that the bench has considered a “prima facie challenge” towards each section of the new law and found that “there is no case of banning the complete provisions of the law.”
“However some classes need protection,” he said.
The bench clarified that its instructions are prima facie and interim in nature and they would not prevent the petitioners or government from giving full arguments on the constitutional validity of the law in the final hearing phase.
After this, Chief Justice Gawai mentioned the provisions in which interim order has been intervened or banned.
The order states, “It is necessary to be a Muslim for the last five years before dedicating a person as his property as Waqf (Section 3 (R)) This provision has been stopped until the state governments make rules to investigate whether a person is Muslim or not. Without any such rules/system, this provision will promote the arbitrary use of power.”
One of the most important interventions came in relation to Section 3C, in which the nominated government officials were given powers to determine the status of Waqf properties.
The Center notified the Act on 8 April after the approval of President Draupadi Murmu on 5 April. The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha passed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025 on 3 April and 4 April respectively.
