According to the Board, the amended law violates Articles 25 and 26 of the Indian Constitution, which ensure the freedom of conscience, the right to practice and propagate religion, and the right to manage religious and charitable institutions.
NEW DELHI: Today, 7th April: The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has filed a petition in the Supreme Court of India challenging the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, claiming that the law is unconstitutional, discriminatory, and violates the fundamental rights of Muslims in India.
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The petition was filed late in the evening on April 6, just a day after President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the Waqf (Amendment) Bill on April 5, following heated discussions in both houses of Parliament.
The law officially became the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025.
Earlier the same day, a bench led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna, along with Justices Sanjay Kumar and K V Viswanathan, agreed to hear the matter urgently.
The court was responding to a plea filed by multiple petitioners including the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi, Congress MP Mohammad Jawed, and AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan.
In a press release, SQR Ilyas, spokesperson for the AIMPLB, said that the petition strongly opposes the new amendments.
He stated:
“The petition strongly objected to the amendments passed by Parliament for being ‘arbitrary, discriminatory and based on exclusion’.”
According to the Board, the amended law violates Articles 25 and 26 of the Indian Constitution, which ensure the freedom of conscience, the right to practice and propagate religion, and the right to manage religious and charitable institutions.
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The statement further added:
“The amendments, it said, not only violated the fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution of India but also clearly revealed the government’s intention to take complete control over the administration of Waqf, therefore, sidelining the Muslim minority from managing their own religious endowments.”
“Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution ensure freedom of conscience, the right to practice, propagate religion, and the right to establish and manage institutions for religious and charitable purposes,” it said.
“The newly-enacted law deprives Muslims of these fundamental rights,” it added.
AIMPLB raised several objections against the law. One major issue mentioned in the petition was about the changes in how members are selected for the Central Waqf Council and the State Waqf Boards.
The Board said:
“The amendments regarding the selection of members of the Central Waqf Council and Waqf Boards stand as stark proof of this deprivation.”
Another critical concern was the clause requiring a waqif (donor) to be a practising Muslim for at least five years, which the Board said was not only against Islamic Shariah but also against the Constitution.
“Additionally, the five-year requirement for a waqif (donor) to be a practising Muslim contradicts both the Indian legal framework and Article 14 and 25 of the Constitution, as well as Islamic Shariah principles,” the statement said.
The AIMPLB also alleged that the amended law treats Muslim endowments (Awqaf) unfairly in comparison to the religious properties of other communities such as Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, and Buddhists.
“Describing the law as discriminatory and inconsistent with Article 14 of the Constitution, the press release said the rights and protections afforded to the endowments of other religious communities—Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jains and Buddhists—were denied to Muslim Waqf, Awqaf.”
The AIMPLB urged the Supreme Court to protect the constitutional rights of the Muslim minority, stating:
“The board said the top court being ‘the guardian of constitutional rights’ should annul these ‘controversial amendments, uphold the sanctity of the Constitution’ and the Muslim minority rights from ‘being trampled upon’.”
Jawed, in his plea, argued that the new law imposes unnecessary conditions based on the practice duration of a person’s religious activities.
The plea stated that the Bill “introduces restrictions on the creation of Waqfs based on the duration of one’s religious practice”.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi also raised concerns in his petition that the new law takes away the protections granted to Waqfs, while such safeguards continue for religious and charitable trusts of Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs.
“This diminishing of the protection given to Waqfs while retaining them for religious and charitable endowments of other religions constitutes hostile discrimination against Muslims and is violative of Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution, which prohibit discrimination on the grounds of religion,” said Owaisi’s plea, filed by advocate Lzafeer Ahmad.
He claimed the amendments could undo years of reform in Waqf management and expose it to misuse.
The plea argued the amendments “irreversibly dilute” the statutory protection afforded to Waqfs and their regulatory framework while giving “undue advantage” to other stakeholders and interest groups, undermining years of progress and pushing back Waqf management by several decades.
In his petition, AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan requested the Supreme Court to declare the Waqf (Amendment) Bill as unconstitutional.
His plea stated that the Bill is “unconstitutional and being violative of Articles 14, 15, 21, 25, 26, 29, 30 and 300-A of the Constitution”.
The plea has been drafted and settled by advocate M R Shamshad, with advocate-on-record Talha Abdul Rahman representing the AIMPLB through its General Secretary Maulana Fazlur Raheem Mujaddidi.
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