NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Union government to assure that no appointment of non Muslims to the Waqf Council and board would be made and the waqf properties declared or registered as waqf by users would not be denotified till the next date of hearing.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar and K V Vishwanathan recorded a statement by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on behalf of the Union government in this regard.
Mehta, on his part, contended that the court should not take harsh stand by indirectly staying the Waqf Amendment Act, 2025.
"We don't want the situation to change. There are provisions like 5 years (practice of Islam) which we are not staying," the bench said.
As the court resumed hearing a batch of petitions challenging validity of the Waqf Amendment Act, 2025, Mehta said the government will file a response within seven days and till the next date, no appointment to the Council or Board would take place. He also said till the next date, the character of the waqf by users would not change.
The court allowed the petitioners to file a rejoinder within five days after. It fixed the matter for consideration on May 5, 2025.
At the outset, Mehta said, he has been working to answer questions posed by the court on Wednesday.
He said the court should not stay the law by reading just few Sections.
"There was many amendments and committees and lakhs of representations were made. Villages are being taken away and private properties are taken away as waqf," he said.
Mehta said nothing would change, if the court heard the parties.
The bench, however, remained unbudged and made Mehta to make statement.
During the hearing, the court said only five writ petitions would be considered and the remaining would be treated as disposed of, as it is impossible to deal with 100 or 120 petitions.
The court ordered the writ petitions challenging the 1995 Waqf Act and amendments made in 2013 would be separately shown in the list. The court appointed Kanu Agarwal as nodal counsel for the Centre.
On Wednesday, the court proposed to hold the properties declared by courts as waqfs should not be de-notified, whether they are by waqf-by-user or waqf by deed, as it took up a batch of a matter challenging the validity of the Waqf Amendment Act 2025.
The court also indicated to pass the order that the proviso of the Amendment Act, as per which a waqf property will not be treated as a waqf while the Collector is conducting inquiry whether the property is a government land, will not be given effect to.
The court also felt that all members of the Waqf Boards and Central Waqf Council must be Muslims, except the ex-officio members.
Considering the challenge to validity of the amendment act, the bench indicated to pass the tentative interim order as it decided to consider the matter on Thursday as well, on a request made by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on behalf of the central government.
