New Delhi: The Central Government assured the Supreme Court on Thursday that waqf-by-user or waqf-by-deed properties would not be denotified till the next hearing of the pleas challenging the constitutional validity of Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025. The apex court has scheduled the next hearing for May 5 and asked the Centre to file its stand over the act within a week.

A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar and K V Viswanathan recorded the assurance of solicitor general Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, that no appointments in the central Waqf council and boards will be made in the meantime.

The Solicitor General informed the court that the government won't denotify "waqf-by-deed" and "waqf-by-user" properties till the next hearing. The district collectors are also restricted from taking any action to change the status of Waqf lands.

“ If registration of any waqf property had taken place under the erstwhile 1995 Act, then those properties can't be denotified till the next hearing on May 5,” said CJI.

The bench passed the order after Mehta sought a weeks' time to file a preliminary response to the pleas against the newly-amended waqf law.

However, the court said it was impossible to deal with a number of pleas on the issue and clarified it would only hear five of them while asking lawyers to decide among themselves who would argue.

“The petitioners could file their rejoinders to the Centre's reply within five days of the service of the government's response,” directed the court.

Approving the Solicitor General’s suggestion, the apex court modified the case title to ‘In re: Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025’ to prevent the filing of additional petitions. 

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court declared that a complete stay of the act is impossible at this stage. The bench pointed out that the objective is to maintain the existing situation without changes while the matter remains under judicial review. Earlier, the apex court noted some positive aspects of the Waqf Act. 

YSRCP, led by former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, CPI leader D Raja, and AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi are among the dozens of petitioners who approached the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of Waqf law.

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