The Supreme Court has been moved through a public interest plea (PIL) challenging various provisions of the Waqf Act 1995 and certain provisions of Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025, alleging discrimination against other religious communities and seeking equal status and safeguards for the properties of the Hindus and other non-Islamic communities.

The petitioner – one Parul Khera – said the provisions in 1995 Waqf Act grant special status to Waqf properties while the same is denied to the Trust, Mutts, Akharas and societies and confer unguided and unchecked powers to Waqf Boards to register any property as Waqf property.

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The conferment of special right, status and power to Waqf property and Waqf Board is in violation of provisions contained in Article 14, 15, 25, 300-A and 323-A of the Constitution of India and the concept of a Secular State.

“The Waqf Boards have also been given special powers in Sections 54, and 55 in the matter of removing encroachment. Section 89 provides for giving two months’ notice before filing suit. The Trustees, Managers, Shebaits, Mahants and persons managing and administering Trusts, Mutts, Temples, Akharas and religious properties do not enjoy such right and power. Such conferment of special status to Waqf Boards is clearly in violation of Articles 14, 15(1) and 25 of the Constitution of India,” says the PIL.

The PIL says that “In the Act there is no safeguard for Hindus and non-Islamic communities to save their religious and private properties from being included in the list of Waqf issued by the government or by the Waqf Boards and Hindu and other religious communities are being discriminated and the impugned provisions violate Articles 14,15, 25, 27 and 300-A of the Constitution of India.”

Alleging that in the last 10 years Waqf Boards have captured the lands of others and declared those properties as Waqf property, the plea states, “It is relevant to mention that the Union Minister for Minority Affairs in reply to Rajya Sabha on February 7, 2022 informed that there was total 7,85,934 immovable properties which have been registered on the portal.”

Referring to the Sachar Committee in its report that had stated that there were about 4.9 lakh registered Waqf property comprising of about 6 lakh acres, the PIL claims that it has come to the fore that at present the total area of Waqf properties existing in different states are more than 12 lakhs acres, which is almost 4 times the area of NCT Delhi which is 3,66,500 acres only.

The PIL says that the provisions of certain sections of Waqf Act, 1995 are not in conformity with the theme underlying Articles 14, 25, 27 and 323-A of the Constitution of India as no proper safeguard has been provided against the inclusion of any property as waqf property.

The PIL says that “These provisions (of Waqf Act, 1995 ) are not in consonance with principles of natural justice as no sufficient provision has been made to give opportunity of being heard to the affected persons who want to oppose the inclusion of the property as Waqf Property. There is no provision to check the arbitrariness and illegal exercise of powers by the authorities concerned in the matter of declaring any property as Waqf property.”

In respect of  the 2025 Amendment Act, the petitioner has said that the discriminatory provisions of the Waqf Act 1995 have not been amended, and other communities are being subjected to atrocities and their properties are being captured illegally by the Waqf Board.

A three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna, comprising Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice KV Viswanathan, is set to hear a batch of petitions challenging the Act, 2025, on April 16.

The petitioners challenging the  Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, includes the Congress leader and Lok Sabha member Mohammad Jawed, who was also the member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee that had examined the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Chief and Lok Sabha member, Asaduddin Owais, the Aam Aadmi Party MLA in Delhi assembly Amanatullah Khan, the President of the Islamic cleric’s body Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, Maulana Arshad Madani, Kerala Sunni scholars’ body Samastha Kerala Jamiatul Ulama, Social Democratic Party of India, the NGO Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) and others.

The  petitioners  have challenged the constitutionality of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, on the grounds of its being in the teeth of fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 14 (Right to equality before law), Article 25 (freedom to practice religion), Article 26 (freedom to manage religious affairs), Article 29 (minority rights), Article 300A (right to property) of the Constitution of India, being discriminatory and provides for unwarranted interference of the government in Waqf affairs, were mentioned on Monday for an early listing.