SC to hear pleas challenging Waqf law provisions on May 20 for passing interim orders

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday said it will take up on May 20 the issue of considering interim relief on pleas challenging validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025. A bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih asked senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for those challenging the validity of the law, and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, to file their written notes by Monday. “We will be considering the issue of interim relief only on Tuesday,” the CJI said while adjourning the hearing on the pleas.

The bench was told by the lawyers from both sides that the judges may need some more time to go through the pleadings. In the meanwhile, the law officer said that in any case, there is a subsisting assurance of the Centre that no waqf properties, including those established by waqf by user, would be denotified. Earlier, the law officer had also assured that no appointments to the Central Waqf Council or State Waqf Boards would be made under the new law. The bench said it will not consider any plea seeking a stay of provisions of earlier 1995 Waqf law when the matters are taken up on May 20. Former CJI Sanjiv Khanna, whose bench was hearing the matter, demitted office on May 13, and the matters were transferred to the bench headed by Justice Gavai. On April 25, the central ministry of minority affairs filed a preliminary 1,332-page affidavit defending the amended Waqf Act of 2025 and opposed any "blanket stay" by the court on a "law having presumption of constitutionality passed by Parliament". The Centre urged the top court to dismiss the pleas challenging the validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, pointing out a "mischievous false narrative" surrounding certain provisions. The Centre notified the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 after it got President Droupadi Murmu's assent on April 5.