One of the most critical pieces of legislation of the Narendra Modi Government, the Waqf Amendment Act of 2025, has been given the green light by the Supreme Court. While the bill was passed with a comfortable majority in both houses of Parliament earlier this year, the debates and detour to the Joint Parliamentary Committee were not enough for some petitioners, hoping to politicise a pro-people and pro-minority legislation. After a patient hearing, the Supreme Court validated the stance of the Modi Government.
Contrary to the petitioners’ view, the Supreme Court of India refused to stay the entire act. Instead, it issued a partial stay on two specific provisions. The first stay clause is the requirement under Section 3(r) that a waqf creator must have professed Islam for at least five years, which has been paused until rules are formulated due to potential ambiguity. The second is Section 3C, which permits the de-recognition of waqf properties during an official inquiry, which is subject to the separation of powers. Instead of the government official, the power to take a final call has been vested in the judiciary.
However, Section 40 and ‘Waqf by User’, the two contentious provisions of the principal act, are now history. As Home Minister Amit Shah stated in the Parliament, the need for amendments in 2025 stemmed from the amendments of 2013. More than the definition of those who can make a Waqf, it was these provisions that encompassed the non-Muslims in the Waqf framework.
The amendments of 2013 created the trinity of Section 40, Waqf by User, and the change in definition of those can make a Waqf. Together, these enabled the arbitrariness that allowed the Waqf to claim any private property as its own, irrespective of the religion of the person who owned it. Therefore, both Muslims and non-Muslims were equally impacted. Alongside, the provision allowing claims under ‘Waqf by User’ allowed the boards to claim any property if they had sufficient reason to believe that the property was once used or dedicated for a pious purpose.
Under the amendments of 2025, both Section 40 and ‘Waqf by User’ have been done away with. While petitioners contested this omission in the Supreme Court, the omission of these provisions was upheld, thereby defanging the Waqf boards. Interestingly, the amendments of 2025 make registration mandatory. In one of the sections, the government has stated that only those ‘Waqf by User’ properties, which had been registered before the commencement of the act, will be accepted as Waqf properties. Put simply, this negates all verbal claims made in the last decade.
Even the Supreme Court had an interesting take on the whole registration issue for ‘Waqf by User’ properties. The Supreme Court noted that, as previously discussed, every relevant legislation since 1923 has mandated the registration of waqfs. Consequently, the bench held that if mutawallis had failed to register a waqf over the span of 102 years, as required under prior provisions, they cannot legitimately claim the right to maintain their status without registration.
The Court also noted that under the original Waqf Act, submitting a copy of the waqf deed was not mandatory when applying for registration. It further noted that if no such deed had been executed or a copy could not be obtained, the application could proceed by providing all known particulars regarding the waqf’s origin, nature, and objects.
The Court opined that if mutawallis had deliberately refrained from applying for registration over a span of 30 years, they cannot now argue that the new requirement to accompany such applications with a copy of the waqf deed is arbitrary. Additionally, if the legislature, upon identifying misuse of waqf properties, mandates that all applications under the challenged Act must include a copy of the waqf deed, this measure cannot be deemed arbitrary. This is where the Supreme Court validated the stance of the Modi Government.
Other noteworthy omissions in the new amendments have also been upheld by the Supreme Court. Section 108A, introduced by the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2013, states that the provisions of the Waqf Act shall have an overriding effect. This means that if any other law in force (like property laws, trust laws, or land acquisition rules) or any legal document (like a contract or deed) contradicts the Waqf Act, the Waqf Act takes precedence. Section 108A is gone.
Section 107, which stated that the Limitation Act of 1963 would not apply to Waqf cases, is also gone. Section 104, which made the government subservient to the Waqf Boards, forcing them to give up claimed properties in six months, is also permanently omitted.
Amit Shah, in his Parliamentary address, had narrated how the area under Waqf properties had gone up from 18 Lakh acres in 2013 to over 39 lakh acres in 2025. With the new amendments in place, the government will have an opportunity, within the realm of constitutionality, to reverse the damages incurred by several citizens of India, including the minority groups.
The Supreme Court has again confirmed the pro-minority stance of the Narendra Modi Government. This legislation will go a long way in unlocking and unshackling land parcels that can benefit several communities in India at a local level, starting with the Muslims, and contributing to their overall socio-economic development.
More transparency, more development.
