The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its interim order on three issues after hearing the petitions challenging the validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025. These issues include denotification of assets declared by the court, Waqf-by-User or Waqf by-Deed. The Supreme Court heard for three consecutive days before reserting the verdict.
During the hearing on Thursday, advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing on behalf of the petitioners, said that once the investigation starts on the status of Waqf, the status of Waqf is over till the report comes. Sibal also said this,
On this, CJI said why the land was not registered? On this, Kapil Sibal said, he (Muslim community) did not register because it was the responsibility of the state, now he (government) says that he did not register, so it is the fault of the community. If you have power then you cannot take advantage of your own mistake.
SG Tusshar Mehta spoke on section 3E. Said that Section 3E prohibits the construction of Waqf on the land under the scheduled areas. This provision was for the protection of Scheduled Tribes.
Scheduled Tribes have constitutional protection in scheduled areas. Suppose I sell the land and find that if the person of the ST community is cheated in the land transaction, then the land can be refunded, but Waqf says that the donated land cannot be withdrawn.
When Chief Justice Gawai asked the argument behind it, SG Mehta said that the construction of Waqf is irreversible and this could adversely affect the rights of the weak tribal population. The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) says that tribals can adopt Islam, but have their own cultural identity.
On this, Justice Christ said- it does not seem right. Islam is Islam! Religion is the same.
SG Mehta said JPC says that people of SC community do not follow Islam in the same way as they have a separate cultural identity. On this, Justice Christ said that how can you say this, Islam religion remains the same everywhere. However, cultural practices may vary.
