Besides the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi and various others have moved the top court, seeking extension of time for mandatory registration of all waqf properties
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to extend the deadline for the mandatory registration of all waqf properties, including “waqf by user,” under the UMEED (Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development) portal.
A two-judge bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih asked the petitioners to approach the respective waqf tribunals before the deadline. “Our attention has been drawn to the proviso to Section 3B of the Waqf Amendment Act. Since the remedy before the tribunal is available to the applicants, we dispose of all the applications by granting them liberty to approach the tribunal by the last date of the six-month period (December 6) as prescribed under Section 3B(1),” the bench said.
According to Section 3B(1) of the Act, “Every waqf registered under this Act, prior to the commencement of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 (14 of 2025), shall file the details of the waqf and the property dedicated to the waqf on the portal and database, within a period of six months from such commencement.”
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the applicants, argued that the timeline was unreasonably short. “The amendment came into effect on April 8. The portal was created only on June 6, the Rules were framed on July 3, and the judgment on the plea to stay the Act came on September 15. The six-month period is too short. We don’t know the details of 100- to 125-year-old waqfs. Without these details, the portal won’t accept the entries,” he said.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, responded that the requirement for compulsory registration has existed since 1929. Concurring with this, Justice Masih referred to paragraph 191 of the September 15, 2025, interim order. The court had observed: “The requirement of registration has not come for the first time in 2025. Right from 1923, the said requirement has been consistently found in all enactments concerning waqf properties.”
“So, don’t say it was not there; it was always there,” Justice Masih remarked.
Responding to Sibal’s submission that the issue concerned digitisation rather than registration, Justice Masih said, “That applies to registered waqf only. There is a remedy available in the statute itself. Approach that.”
Besides the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi and several others had approached the Supreme Court seeking an extension for the mandatory registration of all waqf properties.
In an interim order on September 15, the apex court stayed a few key provisions of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, including a clause that restricted creating a waqf to those who had practiced Islam for at least five years. However, it refused to stay the entire law, citing the presumption of constitutionality.
The court also held that the Centre’s decision to delete the “waqf by user” provision in the amended law was prima facie not arbitrary, and said arguments that waqf lands could be taken over by governments “held no water.”
“Waqf by user” refers to a practice where a property is recognised as a waqf based on its uninterrupted, long-term use for religious or charitable purposes, even without a formal written declaration by the owner.
The Centre launched the UMEED portal on June 6 to create a digital inventory by geo-tagging all waqf properties. As mandated, details of all registered waqf properties across India must be uploaded within six months.
