Owaisi, Cong MP Mohd Jawed challenge Waqf Bill in SC

NEW DELHI: A day after the controversial Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, was approved by Parliament, AIMIM chief and MP Asaduddin Owaisi moved the Supreme Court, challenging the proposed legislation.

He followed Congress MP Mohammad Jawed, who was the first to file a petition against the legislation. Owaisi’s plea argues that the amendment is unconstitutional and infringes upon the fundamental rights of the Muslim community.

Meanwhile, Congress also said it would “very soon” challenge the Bill in the Supreme Court. The party said it would continue to resist all “assaults” of the Narendra Modi government on the principles, provisions and practices contained in the Constitution.

The Hyderabad MP’s challenge came days after he tore a copy of the Bill in Lok Sabha. Opposing the Bill in the Lok Sabha, Owaisi termed it an “attack on the faith and religious practices of Muslims.” In a dramatic protest, Owaisi symbolically ‘tore’ the Bill, likening his act to Mahatma Gandhi’s defiance of unjust laws.

Owaisi said the Bill takes away from Waqfs various protections which were accorded to Waqfs and Hindu, Jain, and Sikh religious and charitable endowments alike.

Owaisi’s plea, filed by advocate Lzafeer Ahmad, said, “This diminishing of the protection given to Waqfs while retaining them for religious and charitable endowments of other religions constitutes hostile discrimination against Muslims and is violative of Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution, which prohibit discrimination on the grounds of religion.”

The plea argued the amendments “irreversibly dilute” the statutory protections afforded to Waqfs and their regulatory framework while giving undue advantage to other stakeholders and interest groups, undermining years of progress and pushing back Waqf management by several decades.

“Appointing non-Muslims on the Central Waqf Council and the State Waqf Boards disturbs this delicate constitutional balance and tilts it to the detriment of the right of Muslims as a religious group to remain in control of their Waqf properties,” Owaisi said.

Notably, the petition filed by Jawed claimed that the act violates Articles 14, 15, 25, 26, 29 and 300A of the Constitution, which guarantee equality before law, freedom of religion, protection of minority rights and the right to property.

Jawed, who represents Kishanganj in Bihar, is also a Congress whip in the Lok Sabha and served as a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee that examined the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025.

According to the plea, the amended law imposes restrictions on the Muslim community that are not present in the governance of other religious endowments.

“For instance, while Hindu and Sikh religious trusts continue to enjoy a degree of self-regulation, the amendments to the Waqf Act, 1995, disproportionately increase state intervention in Waqf affairs. Such differential treatment amounts to a violation of Article 14,” it said.

The petition also challenges the clause that introduces restrictions on creating new waqfs based on the duration of religious practice. “Such a limitation is unfounded in Islamic law, custom or precedent and infringes upon the fundamental right to profess and practise religion under Article 25,” the plea said.

The petitioner argues that the restriction discriminates against recent converts to Islam who wish to dedicate property for religious or charitable use, violating the right to equality and non-discrimination under Article 15.

Jawed also objects to the proposed changes in the composition of the Waqf Board and Central Waqf Council, which would include non-Muslim members. The plea said this is an interference in religious administration and contrasts with Hindu religious institutions, which remain under the exclusive management of Hindus.

“The selective intervention, without imposing similar conditions on other religious institutions, is an arbitrary classification,” the petition said.