Introduction
From the Delhi Sultanate era, the idea of Waqf, a charity endowment under Islamic law, has existed in India with properties historically set for religious, educational, and social welfare uses. But over time, Waqf asset management descended into a muck of claims of misbehaviour, invasion, and lack of responsibility.
Designed to simplify government, the Waqf Act, 1995 created a Central Waqf Council and State Waqf Boards. Still, the system presented ongoing difficulties that drove the government to suggest changes via the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2023, sometimes referred to as the UMEED Bill (Unified Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development). Following the President’s approval in March 2025, the Bill became legislation as the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025.
Though the Act brings digitization, improved monitoring, and more involvement in Waqf management, it has spurred intense discussion. While some advocate greater openness, others warn of state overreach and intervention in religious autonomy. The main clauses of the changed Act, their ramifications, and the objections about them are investigated on this site.
Understanding the Indian Waqf Concept:
A Waqf in Islamic law is a permanent commitment of property, movable or immovable, for religious, charitable, or social uses. Once a property is declared as Waqf, it is legally held by God and its use is limited to the intent for which it was endowed. The waqif, the donor, gives up all personal rights, so the Waqf is inalienable and irreversibly.
India has maintained and formalized the Waqf system by statutory recognition even if it is a secular nation. Establishing State Waqf Boards and the Central Waqf Council to handle and preserve these assets, the Waqf Act, 1995 controls the management of Waqf properties in the nation. India boasts one of the biggest Waqf ecosystems in the world with around 8.7 lakh properties scattered across 9.4 lakh acres and an expected value of over ₹1.2 lakh crore.
Although Waqf has always financed mosques, madrasas, graveyards, and charitable causes, growing worries over abuse, encroachment, and lack of openness have resulted in recurrent calls for change. The Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 set the stage for the most recent legal change stemming from these structural problems.
The Waqf Act, 1995
Introduced to provide improved governance, preservation, and management of Waqf properties all throughout India, the Waqf Act, 1995 Under Section 13 and Section 9 respectively, it resulted in the founding of the Central Waqf Council and State Waqf Boards respectively, meant to control thousands of religious and philanthropic trusts all throughout the nation. But over time, a number of Act clauses attracted strong criticism and requests for thorough changes resulted.
Section 40, which gave Waqf Boards unilateral authority to declare any property as Waqf, even if it belonged to private individuals or government agencies—was among the most divisive clauses. Thousands of conflicts, property litigation, and broad claims of arbitrary conduct resulted from this component not requiring prior notice or an opportunity to be heard for the impacted party.
Though not stated specifically, another divisive idea ingrained in the Act was the “Waqf by user” principle, an implied designation of property as Waqf based on long-term religious use—though not clearly codified. This nebulous and unorganized acknowledgement let properties be claimed as Waqf in spite of official dedication or documentation, therefore creating legal conflict and doubt.
Section 83 created Waqf Tribunals to resolve conflicts involving Waqf properties; Section 85 forbade civil courts from hearing any lawsuit in such regard. Without an obvious appeal system, this absence of civil jurisdiction raised questions about due process and access to justice.
Still another urgent issue was financial opacity. Although Section 46 mandated yearly Waqf account audits, many Boards either neglected to comply or openly release audit reports. Allegations of corruption, illegal transfers, and large-scale invasions tormented the system. Though the estimated value of the assets—over 8.7 lakh properties—the community benefited hardly from this riches.
The Act’s exclusive applicability to Muslim endowments, with no corresponding measure for other religious minority, also begged issues of constitutional equity. Furthermore exposed to administrative inefficiencies and misuse was the system without digital records, centralized databases, or responsibility systems.
These defects together spurred the demand for reform, which resulted in the introduction and currently adoption of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, which seeks to solve long-standing issues about arbitrary powers and institutional overreach while providing legal clarity, inclusivity, and transparency to the Waqf management framework.
Key Provisions of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025
- Abolition of Section 40: Now completely abolished is one of the most divisive clauses in the Waqf Act, 1995: Section 40, which gave State Waqf Boards authority to declare any property as Waqf property. Mass disturbance and legal entanglement resulted from repeated claims for private, ancestral, and disputed lands as Waqf properties from this section. Based on official records placed before Parliament, under this clause over 515 properties have been unilaterally designated Waqf in just eight states, without any judicial control or demand of ownership documentation.
- High Court Appeals Introduced: Decisions rendered by Waqf Tribunals earlier were declared final and immune from ordinary court review. Long-standing questions concerning constitutional legitimacy and responsibility have come from this absence of court supervision. Now allowing appeals against Tribunal rulings to be lodged before the High Court within 90 days under section 83(9) of the Act, the Amendment Act guarantees judicial review and helps to avoid arbitrariness. This brings the Waqf law into line with ideas of natural justice and fixes a long-standing anomaly in the justice delivery system in Waqf disputes.
- End of ‘Waqf by User’: The Amendment Act rejects the former idea of “Waqf by user,” which had let boards or individuals proclaim land as Waqf just on the basis of religious use over time. Section 3A(1) of the amended Act now mandates that Waqf can be create only through a formal declaration or endowment by a person who is: A practicing Muslim for at least five years, and The legal owner of the property. Further, the amendment to Section 3(r) explicitly removes ‘Waqf by user’ as a valid ground for recognizing waqf status, thereby curbing misuse of public or private land by attributing religious usage.
- Protection of Women’s Inheritance Rights in Waqf-al-Aulad: The Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025’s Section 3A(2) adds a notable protection to preserve gender justice inside Islamic inheritance systems. It unequivocally states that the founding of a Waqf-al-Aulad family waqf will not compromise the inheritance rights of legal heirs, particularly daughters and women. This seeks to stop the common abuse of family waqfs to evade the proper share of women in ancestral land.
- Government Land Exempt from Waqf Claims: Strong protections against erroneous Waqf claims on public land are introduced under sections 3C and 3C(2) of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025. Section 3C forbids the declaration of any Central or State Government property as Waqf, including statutory body or public undertakings property. Section 3C(2) gives the District Collector authority to look into a Waqf-declared property suspected to be government-owned and report back to the State Government should a conflict develop over that property.
- Waqf Survey Responsibility Shifted to District Collectors: AAnother significant change is the way Waqf survey duties under section 4 of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 are assigned to Collectors instead of previous Survey Commissioners. This action tackles the long-standing problem of uneven and inadequate Waqf surveys conducted all throughout India.
- Inclusive Representation in Waqf Boards and Central Waqf Council (Sections 9 and 14): To reflect plurality, knowledge, and more general representation, both the State Waqf Boards and the Central Waqf Council have changed their compositions fundamentally:
- Non-Muslims can be nominated to the Central Waqf Council for the first time, therefore shattering the past exclusivity.The Council still has to feature two Muslim women and academics of Islamic law.The revised Waqf Boards now have to comprise: Two non-Muslims.Among Muslims, representation from Shia, Sunni, Bohra, Agakhani, and backward groups.
- Minimum two Muslim women members.
This change improves responsibility and inclusiveness while lessening the power of one sect or interest group in Waqf government.
- District Judge to Head Tribunals: Earlier Waqf Tribunals included a Muslim law expert, whose often religious interpretation dominated legal reasoning. The new Act substitutes a District Court judge as Chairman, a senior state officer (Joint Secretary or above), and a person having knowledge of Muslim law and jurisprudence as part of tribunal under section 83(4) of the act.
- Central Government Empowered for Greater Oversight and Financial Accountability: The Central Government under section 47 & 48 now has express authority to:
- Specify guidelines for Waqf property registration, account publishing, and Board operations.
- Get Waqf accounts examined by an approved authority or the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), therefore adding still another level of financial responsibility.
- Repeal of Mussalman Wakf Act, 1923: The century-old Mussalman Wakf Act, 1923 has been revoked under the Mussalman Wakf (Repeal) Act, 2025. This stage removes contradicting legal clauses and places all Waqf-related issues into the unified legal framework of the 1995 Act, as changed in 2025.
- Application of Limitation Act, 1963: Under section 107 of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, the Limitation Act, 1963 shall apply to any proceedings in relation to any claim or interest pertaining to immovable property comprised in a waqf.
Conclusion:
In Waqf governance, the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 brings sorely needed clarity, responsibility, and inclusiveness. Eliminating antiquated legislation like the Mussalman Wakf Act, 1923 and divisive clauses like Section 40 of the Waqf Act tackles long-standing problems including property conflicts, mismanagement, and lack of control. The Act enhances the function of the court, includes varied community representation, and advances technical openness in Waqf records. Although it represents a major overhaul, issues with religious exclusion and federal overreach still exist. Real impact of the Act will rely on consistent execution and court interpretation. All things considered, it shows a slow but steady attempt to update Waqf rules in keeping with democratic norms and constitutional ideas.
Author Details: Ananya Pathak, 4th year, B.Com LL.B., Jiwaji University
References:
- https://www.newsonair.gov.in/parliament-passes-waqf-amendment-bill-2025-as-rajya-sabha-grants-approval/
- https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2118261
- https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/lok-sabha-passes-waqf-amendment-bill-2025-which-parties-supported-who-opposed/articleshow/119929473.cms
- https://vajiramandravi.com/upsc-exam/waqf-amendment-bill-2025/
Wish to read similar articles? Click the link to read more: https://jpassociates.co.in/news-and-blogs/
You might also like:
