New Delhi [India], April 10 (ANI): Manipur MLA Sheikh Noorul Hassan from Kshetrigao constituency in Manipur approached the Supreme Court challenging the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025.

Hassan, the leader of National People's Party India (NPP) party which is an ally of the BJP as a member of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Manipur, said these amendments in the Act will distort the religious character of Waqfs.

The plea said the amendments irreversibly damage the democratic process in the administration of Waqfs and Waqf Boards.

He has raised concern over the amendment depriving Scheduled Tribes (STs) practising Islam from giving their property in Waqf, saying this violates their fundamental right to practise their religion.

The amendments brought are in the nature of land grabbing by the government, who is expected to protect the Waqf properties, the petition added.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, Justices Sanjay Kumar and KV Vishwanathan is set to hear a batch of petitions challenging the Act on April 16.

The Central government had also filed caveat application in the Supreme Court urging it to hear the government in the petitions filed before it challenging validity of the Act. A Caveat application is filed by a litigant to ensure that no adverse order is passed against him or her without being heard.

Several petitions were filed in the apex court challenging the Act contending that it was discriminatory towards Muslim community and violates their fundamental rights.

President Droupadi Murmu on April 5 gave her assent to the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which was earlier passed by Parliament after heated debates in both Houses.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Member of Parliament Asaduddin Owaisi, Congress MPs Mohammad Jawed and Imran Pratapgarhi, AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan, MP and President of the Azad Samaj Party Chandra Shekhar Azad, Samajwadi Party MP from Sambhal Zia Ur Rehman Barq, President of the Islamic cleric's body Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind Maulana Arshad Madani, Kerala Sunni scholars' body Samastha Kerala Jamiatul Ulema, Social Democratic Party of India, Indian Union Muslim League, and NGO Association for Protection of Civil Rights have already approached the top court against the Act.

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) also challenged the Act saying it strongly objected to the amendments passed by Parliament for being 'arbitrary, discriminatory and based on exclusion'.

Manoj Jha and Faiyaz Ahmad, MP in Rajya Sabha from RJD, have also challenged the Wakf (Amendment) Act, 2025 on the grounds that it facilitates large-scale government interference in Muslim religious endowments. RJD MLA from Bihar Muhammad Izhar Asfi also challenged the Act.

The ruling party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu through its MP A Raja, who was a part of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Waqf Bill, also approached the apex court against the Act. (ANI)