Supreme Court Stays Certain Provisions of the Waqf Amendment Act, 2025; Retains Registration Requirement

Today (September 15, 2025), the two-judge bench of the Supreme Court (SC), constituting Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih, stayed certain provisions of the Waqf Amendment Act, 2025. While stating this, the SC bench observed that a case is not made out to stay the provisions of the entire statute. The top court rejected the prayer for a stay of the Waqf Amendment Act. However, to protect the interests of all the parties and balance the equities during the pendency of the batch of matters, the SC issued certain directions which are as follows:

1. “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 practicing Islam for at least five years or not;
2. The proviso to sub-section (2) of Section 3C of the Amended Waqf Act, which reads thus: ‘Provided that such property shall not be treated as waqf property till the designated officer submits his report.’ and the provisions of sub-sections (3) and (4) of Section 3C of the Amended Waqf Act, which read thus: ‘(3) In case the designated officer determines the property to be a Government property, he shall make necessary corrections in revenue records and submit a report in this regard to the State Government. (4) The State Government shall, on receipt of the report of the designated officer, direct the Board to make appropriate correction in the records.’ shall stand stayed;
3. It is directed that unless the issue with regard to title of the waqf property in terms of Section 3C of the Amended Waqf Act is not finally decided in the proceedings initiated under Section 83 of the Amended Waqf Act by the Tribunal and subject to further orders by the High Court, neither the waqfs will be dispossessed of the property nor the entry in the revenue record and the records of the Board shall be affected. However, upon commencement of an inquiry under Section 3C of the Amended Waqf Act till the final determination by the Tribunal under Section 83 of the Amended Waqf Act, subject to further orders of the High Court in an appeal, no third-party rights would be created in respect of such properties;
4. It is directed that insofar as Central Waqf Council constituted under Section 9 of the Amended Waqf Act is concerned, it shall not consist of more than 4 non-Muslim members out of 22. Equally, insofar as the Board constituted under Section 14 of the Amended Waqf Act is concerned, it is directed that it shall not consist of more than 3 non-Muslim members out of 11;
5. Though, we are not inclined to stay the provision of Section 23 of the Amended Waqf Act, we direct that as far as possible, an effort should be made to appoint the Chief Executive Officer of the Board who is the exofficio Secretary from amongst the Muslim community; and…"

The top court earlier reserved this matter after hearing the parties for 3 days. The petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf Amendment Act were filed by AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi, Association for Protection of Civil Rights, Delhi AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan, Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind President Arshad Madani, Anjum Kadari, Taiyyab Khan Salmani, Samastha Kerala Jamiatul Ulema, Mohammad Shafi, Indian Union Muslim League, TMC MP Mahua Moitra, All India Muslim Personal Law Board, RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha, Communist Party of India, DMK, SP MP Zia ur Rehman, etc.