23-04-2025
HRF seeks immediate repeal of Waqf(Amendment) Act, 2025
The Human Rights Forum (HRF) A.P. State Committee, has demanded immediate repeal of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, which enables the State to acquire the properties of religious organisations.
The amendment provides for violation of equality and religious autonomy besides allowing encroachers to own the waqf lands. It also gives scopes for outbreak of riots at Masjids, Dargahs and Muslim burial grounds. The amendment, which questions the very existence of the Muslim minorities, is an 'attack' on the basic structure of the Constitution, HRF State president K.V. Jagannadha Rao and general secretary Y. Rajesh alleged in a statement.
While Parliament has the right to amend the Constitution, the Supreme Court had clarified on various occasions in the past, that Parliament has no right to change the basic structure of the Constitution. The HRF leaders sought immediate cancellation of six guidelines in the Waqf Act. These include repeal of the amendment pertaining to appointment of non-Muslims in Waqf Board or the council, upholding Section 40, and strengthening of the rule that 'Once a Waqf, always a Waqf'.
