DMK, IUML file petitions in SC challenging Waqf amendments

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) have filed separate writ petitions in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, adding to a growing list of legal challenges against the new law that has emerged as a major flashpoint.

The Union government has justified the changes to the central waqf law as necessary to enhance transparency, curb mismanagement and ensure better regulation of waqf properties. But the move has sparked intense debate, with many critics and the Opposition parties arguing that it interferes with the religious autonomy of the Muslim community.

The DMK’s petition, filed through its deputy general secretary and Lok Sabha parliamentarian A Raja, who was also a member of the joint parliamentary committee (JPC) on the Waqf bill, alleges that the Amendment Act violates the fundamental rights of nearly five million Muslims in Tamil Nadu and 200 million Muslims across India. The petition was settled by senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP P Wilson. The Tamil Nadu legislative assembly had earlier, on March 27, passed a resolution urging the Union government to withdraw the bill.

The IUML’s petition, filed under Article 32, also assails the legislation on multiple constitutional grounds, citing violations of a bunch of fundamental rights. It calls the 2025 amendment an “unconstitutional assault on the religious autonomy and personal rights of the Muslim community in India.”

The amendment act, which received Presidential assent on April 5, has already drawn legal challenges from a host of political leaders and organisations, including AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi, Congress MP Mohammed Jawed, Delhi legislator Amanatullah Khan, Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind President Maulana Arshad Madani, Samastha Kerala Jamiatul Ulema, Association for Protection of Civil Rights, among others.

On Tuesday, the petitions were mentioned before Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, who declined to entertain oral requests for urgent listing of the matter, pointing out that the Supreme Court already has a “robust system of listing” in place and that the listing request would be considered in due course.

At the heart of the controversy lies the charge that the amendments impose arbitrary restrictions, enhance state control over religious endowments, and erode long-held religious practices intrinsic to Islamic tradition. The petitioners argue that the act deviates from the spiritual essence of waqf -- a form of Islamic endowment -- by redefining it in terms that dilute its religious identity and autonomy.

The petitioners have contended that the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, is a direct assault on the constitutional and religious rights of the Muslim community in India. According to the petitions, the act imposes conditions that are not rooted in Islamic law, such as requiring individuals to demonstrate that they have practised Islam for at least five years before they can create a waqf, thereby excluding new converts and other individuals and infringing religious autonomy.

Further, the law eliminates long-standing practices such as oral waqfs and waqf by user, undermining centuries-old traditions and faith-based customs, contended the petitioners, raising challenge to the inclusion of non-Muslim members in Waqf Boards and the Waqf Council on the ground that it interferes with the Muslim community’s right to manage its religious affairs independently.

The IUML has sought an immediate stay on the enforcement of the amendment act to prevent what it calls “immense and irreparable loss” to waqf properties and religious rights pending judicial review. It also urges the court to restore the original protections under the Waqf Act, 1995.