Waqf law on pause till Centre details its case

Contentious issue in the top court

- Abraham Thomas

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday recorded the Centre's assurances protecting the status of any waqf, including waqf-by-user, property declared so by notification or registered, from being de-notified and on not appointing any non-Muslims to the Waqf Council or boards until the next hearing on the matter in the first week of May.

The court permitted the Centre to file a detailed response to the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf Amendment Act, 2025 before the next date.

A day after the top court indicated that the present law suffers from flaws that it intends to correct by an interim order, solicitor general Tushar Mehta appeared for the Centre and made a fervent appeal not to stay the operation of the Act, either directly or indirectly, without allowing the Centre to place the material weighed by the Parliament and the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to pass the law in its present form.