Fri Apr 04 11:34:49 UTC 2025: ## Supreme Court Challenges Filed Against Waqf Amendment Bill
**New Delhi** – Two opposition MPs have challenged the recently passed Waqf (Amendment) Bill in the Supreme Court, alleging it is discriminatory against Muslims and violates their fundamental rights. Congress MP Mohammad Jawed and AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi filed separate petitions arguing the bill’s provisions are unconstitutional.
The bill, which passed the Rajya Sabha late Thursday and awaits presidential assent, has been criticized for increasing state control over Waqf properties. Mr. Jawed’s petition, filed through lawyer Anas Tanwir, claims the bill violates Articles 14 (right to equality), 25 (freedom to practice religion), 26 (freedom to manage religious affairs), 29 (minority rights), and 300A (right to property) of the Indian Constitution.
The petition highlights the bill’s disparate treatment of Muslim Waqfs compared to other religious endowments. While Hindu and Sikh trusts retain significant self-governance, the amendments introduce greater state intervention in Waqf affairs, the petition argues. This differential treatment, it contends, is a violation of Article 14.
Furthermore, the petition argues that the bill’s restrictions on Waqf creation based on the duration of a person’s religious practice are unfounded in Islamic law and infringe upon the right to practice religion (Article 25). It also alleges discrimination against recent converts to Islam.
The inclusion of non-Muslim members in Waqf administrative bodies, the petition states, constitutes unwarranted interference in religious governance, unlike the management of Hindu religious endowments which remain exclusively under Hindu control. Mr. Jawed, who served on the joint parliamentary committee reviewing the bill, called the legislation a blatant violation of Muslim fundamental rights. The Supreme Court is now set to consider the petitions.
First Piper 