Waqf not essential part of Islam: Govt
New Delhi: The Union government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that Waqf is a charity organisation and is not an essential part of Islam.
This was during the second day of the Waqf hearing in the apex court. A bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice BR Gavai is hearing the pleas challenging the new Waqf Act. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said Waqf is an Islamic concept, but it is not an essential part of Islam. Mehta further argued that charity is part of other religions.
'Hindus have a system of daan. Sikhs also have it. Waqf is nothing but just charity in Islam." The Solicitor General also made the case that the Central government was empowered to reclaim properties that were declared waqf under the controversial 'waqf by user' clause. 'Waqf by user is not a fundamental right and was recognised by a statute. Judgment said if a right is conferred by statute… right can always be taken away by a statute," he told the Supreme Court.
'Nobody has the right over government land… There is a Supreme Court judgment which says the government can save the property if it belongs to the government and has been declared as waqf,' he told the two-judge bench.
Waqf by user refers to a concept where a property is recognised as waqf based on its long-term use for religious or charitable purposes, even without formal documentation.
Speaking on the inclusion of non-Muslims in the Waqf board, he said that Waqf was 'purely secular' in nature and did not touch upon any religious function, hence the provision of a maximum of two Muslim members would not change its character.
He said a provision for the appointment of non-Muslims has been made to alleviate the concerns of the non-Muslim population, who may be affected by the decisions made by the Waqf board. SG Mehta also pointed out that the Commissioner of the Bombay and Gujarat Public Trust Acts – who control all temples that are purely religious 'unlike Waqf' – could be Muslims.
'Even Waqf used to be under the administration of a non-Muslim charity commissioner… If two non-Muslims are appointed, no prejudice would be caused,' he added.
Responding to the submissions challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, on Tuesday, SG Mehta commenced advancing his arguments on behalf of the Centre before a bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
25 minutes ago
- Time of India
Man goes back on promise to marry woman with ‘aggressive sexual trait'
New Delhi: Supreme Court has quashed rape charges against a man who had a consensual physical relationship with a 30-year-old woman but backed out of his marriage promise after observing her "aggressive sexual behaviour, obsessive nature, and manipulative and vindictive tendencies". Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Allowing the man's plea to quash the FIRs lodged against him by Cyberabad police in 2022 on the woman's complaints accusing him of establishing a physical relationship with the promise of marriage, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said, "The facts on record clearly establish the vindictive and manipulative tendencies of the complainant and these aspects have a great bearing on the controversy." Writing the judgment, Justice Mehta said allowing the man's prosecution would be nothing but gross abuse of the process of law and the complaints were "nothing but a bundle of lies full of fabricated and malicious unsubstantiated allegations levelled by the complainant (woman)". The court was informed about a similar complaint the woman had lodged against an assistant professor at Osmania University in 2021, where she was studying. What rescued the man in the present case was the chats of the woman, who went by the name 'Muffin' on social media. In the chats, she admitted to being manipulative and her desire to "get a green card holder". "At one point of time, she also stated that it would not be difficult for her to trap the next one. In the very same breath, she mentions that she would not waste time with the accused appellant and needs to 'invest on the next victim'. She also mentions that she would irritate her victims to the extent that they dump her, and she could happily start with the next one. She also stated that she was using the accused appellant," the bench recorded in its judgment. "These chats depict the stark reality about the behavioural pattern of the de-facto complainant who appears to be having manipulative and vindictive tendencies. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Thus, in our opinion, the accused appellant was absolutely justified in panicking and backing out from the proposed marriage upon coming to know of the aggressive sexual behaviour and the obsessive nature of the de-facto complainant," Justices Nath and Mehta said. Quashing the FIRs, the SC said, "Hence, even assuming that the accused appellant retracted from his promise to marry the complainant, it cannot be said that he indulged in sexual intercourse with the de-facto complainant under a false promise of marriage or that the offence was committed by him with the de-facto complainant on the ground that she belonged to the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes community."
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Tobacco market in Andhra Pradesh in crisis due to slump in global demand
Vijayawada: Poor demand in the global markets has induced serious crisis in tobacco market in Andhra Pradesh. In fact, the tobacco growers themselves put the traders in advantageous position by producing almost 40 percent surplus crop than the authorized stock. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Betting high on the prices fetched by the FCV (virginia) tobacco growers during the last season, hundreds of farmers swung into cultivation of black burley tobacco causing further crisis in the market. The state govt is virtually struggling to achieve balance between the growers' demands for high prices and the slow response from the traders to pick up stock. Virginia tobacco growers have been complaining about rejection of stocks in the auction platforms particularly in Ongole-I, Ongole-II and Vellampalli platforms in Prakasam district. In order to escape from the demands for high price, the traders are simply rejecting the stocks without offering any price. While the farmers are expecting a price of anywhere around Rs 300 per kg, the traders are ready to pick up the stock between Rs 220 and Rs 250 per kg. State govt held several rounds of discussions with the big exporters, cigarette manufacturing companies and requested them to pick up stocks to avoid further protests from the field. However, the situation did not ease as traders are still awaiting for export orders. CPI(M) state secretary V Srinivasa Rao demanded that the Centre must purchase stocks through state trading corporation (STC) or tobacco board. He criticized the state and Union govts for not responding to the tobacco growers' concerns. The tobacco board authorized a crop of 167 million kg for FCV during the 2024-25 crop season after taking feedback from the growers and traders. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Sensing trouble that farmers might go for additional crop, board chairman Yaswanth Kumar Chidipothu himself went around the tobacco growing districts and appealed to farmers to stick to the authorized stock. However, several farmers went ahead with the additional crop and the production touched almost 240 million kg, which is nearly 70mkg higher than the authorized crop size. Taking advantage of the situation, exporters and traders deliberately slowed down the purchase apparently to exert pressure on the growers. The growers too did not realise the situation in the initial weeks and sticked to their demand for a price above Rs 300 per kg. The stalemate led to almost no purchase situation in the auction platforms. After nearly 70 days of launching the auctions, just 52 mkg of stock was purchased, of the total expected production of 240 million kg. The growers are worried that it might take at least 4 to 5 months to pick up the authorized crop and another two months to pick up surplus stock. This means that auctions might not be going to be completed any time before Nov. Even as the FCV growers struggle to overcome the crisis, the cultivation of about 80 mkg of black burley, which is just a mixing stock, has deepened the crisis. While the white burley was almost picked up by the traders as per the bond, the black burley was left unattended.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
State will be 1st to reach 100% target of Awas acheme: CM
1 2 3 Pune: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said Maharashtra is set to provide 30 lakh houses to homeless people under the Pradhan Mantri Awas scheme and become the first state in India to achieve 100% of the target. He also said a fresh survey would be carried out to identify homeless people who are yet to benefit. The CM was speaking at a PM Awas Yojana award function in Pune with Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan as the chief guest. Deputy CM Ajit Pawar was also present at the event. Fadnavis said, "The central govt considered the socio-economic survey of 2011 to identify homeless people when the scheme was launched. However, it was full of faults. Only 10 lakh people from the state were named and housing sanctioned to them all. We carried out a fresh survey in 2018 and the number had gone up to 30 lakh." Meanwhile, the state govt has expedited the process to provide necessary permissions for houses sanctioned by the Centre to the 30 lakh people. "Maharashtra will become the first state in the country to achieve 100% target under the PM Awas scheme," he added. During his speech, Chouhan told the state govt to do yet another survey to zero in on more homeless people. "The Centre has sanctioned houses to all homeless people in Maharashtra as per the 2018 survey. However, I urge the state to conduct a fresh one to see if anyone falling under the category has been left out. If the state provides a fresh list, we will sanction it too." Pune: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said Maharashtra is set to provide 30 lakh houses to homeless people under the Pradhan Mantri Awas scheme and become the first state in India to achieve 100% of the target. He also said a fresh survey would be carried out to identify homeless people who are yet to benefit. The CM was speaking at a PM Awas Yojana award function in Pune with Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan as the chief guest. Deputy CM Ajit Pawar was also present at the event. Fadnavis said, "The central govt considered the socio-economic survey of 2011 to identify homeless people when the scheme was launched. However, it was full of faults. Only 10 lakh people from the state were named and housing sanctioned to them all. We carried out a fresh survey in 2018 and the number had gone up to 30 lakh." Meanwhile, the state govt has expedited the process to provide necessary permissions for houses sanctioned by the Centre to the 30 lakh people. "Maharashtra will become the first state in the country to achieve 100% target under the PM Awas scheme," he added. During his speech, Chouhan told the state govt to do yet another survey to zero in on more homeless people. "The Centre has sanctioned houses to all homeless people in Maharashtra as per the 2018 survey. However, I urge the state to conduct a fresh one to see if anyone falling under the category has been left out. If the state provides a fresh list, we will sanction it too."
