Supreme Court stays key provisions of the Waqf Amendment Act 2025

Today, the Supreme Court stayed certain provisions of the Waqf Amendment Act, 2025, while refusing to stay the Act as a whole. The Act had been challenged by several politicians, activists and civic groups earlier this year on the grounds that it discriminated against the Muslim community. 

The Bench of Chief Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice A.G. Masih reiterated that striking down a statute is reserved for the rarest of cases; the presumption is always in favour of the constitutionality of a statute. 

CJI Gavai noted that the petitioners’ challenge was centred on specific provisions of the Amendment Act: Sections 3(r), 3C, 14 and related clauses. Speaking for the Bench, the Chief stated that after examining the legislative history since the 1923 Waqf Act and hearing the parties, no prima facie case had been made out against the 2025 Amendment as a whole. 

However, the Court granted an interim stay on the operation of certain provisions of the Act. They are: 

1. Section 3(r) which requires the waqif (person creating the waqf) to prove they have been practising Islam for at least five years. The Bench held this requirement to be unsustainable as it could lead to the arbitrary exercise of power without a mechanism to determine who is a practising Muslim. The judges noted that it would be stayed till the State frames guidelines for such determination. 
2. The following elements of Section 3C, which deals with government property “identified or declared” as Waqf: the proviso to sub-section (2), sub-section (3) and sub-section (4).

The Court’s directions effectively stay—on the ground that it violates separation of powers—the provisions that allowed for a property not to be treated as Waqf until the officer submitted a report on their status, and which allowed for corrections in the revenue records of the state government and Waqf Boards simply based on a determination by a government officer. 

The Court noted that property titles will not be affected and Waqfs will not be dispossessed until the final adjudication of the matter, through the Waqf Tribunal and higher courts, as the case may be. The Court further directed that a Waqf cannot create any third-party rights in the property while adjudication is pending.

The Court also directed that the Central Waqf Council and State Waqf Councils should not consist of more than four and three non-Muslim members respectively; it also said that the Waqf Boards must “strive to ensure” that the ex-officio chairperson is from the Muslim community.

Lastly, the Bench also stated that the time to register Waqfs would be extended and that they had dealt with this and several other aspects in their “lengthy” judgement.