‘We were told Delhi HC on Waqf land’: CJI flags ‘concerns’ as Supreme Court hears pleas against Waqf Amendment Act, 2025
The Supreme Court began hearings on pleas challenging the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, with concerns raised about property classifications and inheritance laws.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday, April 16, began hearing a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, with Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna raising concerns over the way some properties have been classified as Waqf.
“We have been told the Delhi high court building is on Waqf land, Oberoi Hotel is on Waqf land… We are not saying all Waqf-by-user properties are wrongly registered, but there are some genuine areas of concern too,” Justice Sanjiv Khanna observed.
Follow Waqf Act SC hearing LIVE updates
The bench, comprising CJI Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar and KV Viswanathan, asked both sides to address two key issues — whether the matter should be dealt with by the apex court or first go to a high court, and what the core arguments in the petitions were.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioners, began reading out the sections of the new law under challenge and said, “Who is the State to tell us how inheritance will happen in my religion?” He argued that under Islamic law, inheritance happens only after death, and the government was now attempting to interfere before that.
CJI Khanna responded, “But in Hindus it does happen... so Parliament has enacted a law for Muslims. Maybe it’s not like the law for Hindus. Article 26 will not bar enactment of law in this case. Article 26 is universal — and it is secular in the fashion that it applies to all.” .
Sibal, however, countered, saying, “Inheritance in Islam is after death. They are intervening before that.”
Another point of contention raised during the hearing was Section 3(C) of the amended Act, which deals with government property. As per this clause, any government land that was earlier identified or declared as Waqf will not be deemed Waqf property after the commencement of the Act — a significant shift in how such land is classified and contested.
The Centre recently notified the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, after it received the President’s assent on April 5. The bill was cleared in Parliament following intense debate, with 128 MPs voting in favour and 95 against in the Rajya Sabha, and 288 voting in favour versus 232 in the Lok Sabha.
The law is now facing legal scrutiny with 72 petitions filed against it, including by AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and Congress MPs Imran Pratapgarhi and Mohammad Jawed.
Senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing one of the petitioners, urged the court not to refer the matter to any high court, stressing that the law’s implications are national in scale. “We have heard Parliament is also on Waqf land… We’re saying you can’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. The question is: have you removed the basis of the Ayodhya judgment?” he said.
Meanwhile, the Centre filed a caveat in the Supreme Court on April 8, requesting that no orders be passed without hearing its side.
The apex court will continue hearing the petitions on Thursday.
(With inputs from Bar and Bench and Live Law)
