Important hearing in the Supreme Court today on Waqf law, both sides will get 2 hours each for arguments… interim order may come

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear today the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025. A two-member bench headed by Chief Justice Bhushan Ramakrishna Gavai will consider whether the implementation of the amended law should be stayed till a final decision is taken on the matter. Justice Augustine George Masih will be the second judge with the CJI. The main objective of the hearing will be to provide interim relief to the petitioners, in which the arguments of all the parties will be presented before the court reaches any interim decision.

A three-judge bench headed by previous CJI Justice Sanjeev Khanna had decided that both the parties would get two hours each to present their arguments on the issue. Both the parties can get arguments from as many lawyers as they want within the stipulated time period. Both the parties were also asked to appoint one nodal advocate each. The Muslim side has finalised the names of five lawyers – Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Rajiv Dhawan, Salman Khurshid and Huzaifa Ahmadi. Ejaz Maqbool will be the nodal lawyer for the petitioners challenging the Waqf Act.

The Centre has given two big assurances to the SC on the Waqf Act
Probable lawyers from the petitioners supporting the law may include Rakesh Dwivedi, Maninder Singh, Ranjit Kumar, Ravindra Srivastava and Gopal Shankar Narayan. Vishnu Shankar Jain’s services are being taken as the nodal lawyer. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, on behalf of the Central Government, has already assured the court that the controversial provisions of the Waqf (Amendment) Act will not be implemented till further orders. After the apex court indicated passing a stay order, the Central Government had assured that it would not de-notify the provisions related to ‘Waqf by User’ for the time being or include non-Muslim members in the Waqf Board.

In the last hearing before a bench headed by then Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna, the Supreme Court had identified three main issues for consideration: the process of de-notifying Waqf properties, the possibility of including non-Muslim members in Waqf institutions and classifying government land as Waqf property. The apex court had given one week’s time to the Center, state governments and the Waqf Board to file their initial reply.

The Supreme Court has considered five writ petitions as main cases
The Supreme Court had decided to treat five writ petitions as main cases. The apex court had said that other petitions related to this matter would be treated as intervention applications, besides ordering the registry to change the name of the causes of action to Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025. The petitioners have argued that the amended Act is discriminatory and violates the fundamental rights of the Muslim community.

In contrast, six BJP-ruled states have supported the central government and called the amendments constitutionally valid and necessary. The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025 was passed after intense debate in both the Houses of Parliament and became a law after President Draupadi Murmu gave her assent to the bill on April 5, 2025. The Centre, in its preliminary affidavit, has urged the Supreme Court to dismiss the petitions and argued that the Act does not violate constitutional guarantees.