Concerns of Muslim population are 'genuine', says Kerala; moves SC

New Delhi: Kerala government has moved the Supreme Court to intervene in the batch of pleas against the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025.

According to a PTI report, the state government submitted that the 2025 amendment deviated from the scope of the parent Waqf Act, 1995 and its Muslim population, having waqf properties, has a "genuine apprehension" that the amendment would affect their fundamental rights under the Constitution and alter the nature of their waqf properties.

"The State feels that the apprehension of the Muslim minority in Kerala that they are discriminated against in the matter of right to manage religious affairs, the waqf and waqf properties is genuine. Many of the provisions of the amendment Act are highly unjust and the Constitutional validity is doubtful," the plea said.

A bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih is scheduled to hear the pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 on Tuesday.

On April 25, the Central Ministry of Minority Affairs filed a preliminary 1,332-page affidavit defending the amended Waqf Act of 2025 and opposed any "blanket stay" by the court on a "law having presumption of constitutionality passed by Parliament".

The Centre urged the top court to dismiss the pleas challenging the validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, highlighting a "mischievous false narrative" surrounding certain provisions.

The Centre notified the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 after it received President Droupadi Murmu's assent on April 5.