New Delhi: The Supreme Court has scheduled for October 28 the hearing on a plea filed by AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi, seeking an extension of the deadline for the mandatory registration of all waqf properties, including waqf-by-user lands, under the UMEED portal.
A bench of Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran was urged by advocate Nizam Pasha to take up the matter urgently, noting that the six-month registration window was nearing its end.
On Tuesday, a similar petition seeking the same relief was also mentioned for urgent hearing. The bench said it would consider listing that plea alongside Owaisi’s case on October 28.
Earlier, in an interim order on September 15, the apex court had stayed certain provisions of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, including a clause restricting the creation of waqf to individuals who had been practising Islam for at least five years. However, the court refused to suspend the entire law, citing the presumption of its constitutionality.
The bench had also observed that the Centre’s move to delete the “waqf by user” clause from the amended law was prima facie not arbitrary, dismissing arguments that the change could lead to government encroachment on waqf lands.
The term waqf by user refers to properties recognized as religious or charitable endowments due to their long-standing and uninterrupted use for such purposes, even without a formal declaration by the owner.
On October 9, Pasha had earlier urged the court to list Owaisi’s plea, pointing out that while the amended law allowed six months for registration, five months had already passed since the judgment, leaving only one month remaining.
The UMEED (Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development) portal, launched by the Centre on June 6, aims to create a digital, geo-tagged inventory of all waqf properties in the country. Under its mandate, details of all registered waqf properties must be uploaded within six months of its launch.
