The Supreme Court on Monday, September 15, put on hold the provision in the Waqf Amendment Act 2025 that a person should be a practitioner of Islam for five years to create a Waqf.
The Supreme Court said the provision will be stayed till rules are framed on determining whether a person is a practitioner of Islam. The Supreme Court, however, refused to stay all provisions of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025. The court said that some of the sections needed some protection, though.
As per legal news website Live Law, the court in its order said: “We have held [that] presumption is always on the constitutionality of statute and in rarest [cases], it can be done. We have found that the entire act is challenged, but the basic challenge was sections 3(r), 3C, 14; we have gone to the legislative history from the 1923 Act and considered the prima facie challenge to each section and hearing parties, a case was not made out for the entire statute.”
Granting the stay on the need for 5 years as a practising Muslim, the SC said that the provision has failed. “Until rules are formed, it would lead to arbitrary exercise of powers,” it said.
