New Delhi: President Droupadi Murmu Saturday gave her assent to the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which was passed by Parliament earlier this week after heated debates in both Houses.
Murmu also gave her assent to the Mussalman Wakf (Repeal) Bill, 2025.
“The following Act of Parliament received the assent of the president April 5, 2025, and is hereby published for general information: The Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025,” the government said in a notification.
Parliament early Friday approved the Bill after the Rajya Sabha gave its nod to the contentious legislation following an over 13-hour debate.
The discussion witnessed staunch objections from opposition parties, which termed the Bill “anti-Muslim” as well as “unconstitutional”, while the government responded that the “historic reform” would benefit the minority community.
The Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha with 128 members voting in favour and 95 opposing it. It was passed in the Lok Sabha early Thursday, with 288 members supporting it and 232 against it.
Parliament also approved the Mussalman Wakf (Repeal) Bill, with the Rajya Sabha giving its nod. The Lok Sabha had already given its assent to the Bill.
After the president gave her assent, the Mussalman Wakf Act, 1923, stands repealed.
Congress MP Mohammad Jawed and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi Friday challenged the validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill in the Supreme Court Friday, saying it violated constitutional provisions.
Jawed’s plea alleged that the Bill imposed “arbitrary restrictions” on Waqf properties and their management, undermining the religious autonomy of the Muslim community.
The petition, filed through advocate Anas Tanwir, said it discriminated against the Muslim community by “imposing restrictions that are not present in the governance of other religious endowments”.
Jawed, the Lok Sabha MP from Kishanganj in Bihar, was a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Bill and alleged in his plea that it “introduces restrictions on the creation of Waqfs based on the duration of one’s religious practice”.
In his separate plea, Owaisi said the Bill took away from Waqfs various protections 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.”
AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan has also moved the Supreme Court, challenging the Bill’s constitutional validity.
In his plea, Khan sought that the Bill be declared “unconstitutional and being violative of articles 14, 15, 21, 25, 26, 29, 30 and 300-A of the Constitution” and for it to be struck down.
The Association for the Protection of Civil Rights, an NGO, has also challenged in the apex court the Bill’s constitutional validity.
PTI
