India’s Supreme Court has once again underlined that constitutional principles cannot be bent to political convenience. Its interim order on the Waqf (Amendment) Act is more than a narrow legal ruling ~ it is a reminder that the management of religious endowments must remain under the watchful eye of the judiciary, not the fluctuating will of the executive.
In its order today, the Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice BR Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih said that some sections of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 needed some protection.
On SC’s order in the Waqf Amendment Act, BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that the court has the right to scrutinise any law of Parliament, and the government has presented its side.
The apex court put on hold a provision that a person should be a practitioner of Islam for five years to create a Waqf.
The Central government on Wednesday defended the inclusion of non-Muslims in Waqf Councils and Boards, arguing before the Supreme Court that these bodies perform largely administrative and secular functions, making such inclusion constitutionally valid and non-infringing upon religious rights.
Asserting that the Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025, does not interfere with the essential religious practices of the Muslims, the Central government has said, “It is submitted that therefore the Act, by confining itself to non-essential practices, steers well clear of infringing the religious freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.”
Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose on Monday expressed serious doubts about the credibility of the National Commission for Women, dubbing the statutory body of the government of India as the “BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) Mahila wing.”
Speaking to the media persons, she also clarified that this credit to BSF was given by the women of the affected pockets in Murshidabad district, with whom she, along with an NCW delegation, interacted during the visit in the last couple of days.
BJP Kerala president Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Sunday said that the Munambam issue would be resolved with the implementation of the Waqf Amendment Act, 2025.
The Uttarakhand government will probe, identify and take back state Waqf Board properties encroached by the influential muslim community members to follow UP pattern of developing homes for poor and needy people on them.
