DMK said that the Centre’s argument that Waqf dif-fers from Hindu endowments because Waqf encompasses chari-table purposes such as healthcare, education, and aid to the poor and needy, is entirely “fallacious”.
DMK objects to bid to distinguish Waqf, Hindu endowments
NEW DELHI:
opposing the Waqf Amendment Act have called Centre’s attempt to draw an “artificial” distinction between Waqf properties and Hindu endowments on the ground that Waqf is a broad concept encompassing non-religious char-itable purposes, including health-care and education, “unsustaina-ble”.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazha-gam (DMK) and the Indian Union Muslim League, in separate responses filed on Sunday, told the Supreme Court that even state enactments governing Hindu endowments encompass charita-ble purposes including schools, orphanages and healthcare.
The Centre, in its affidavit filed in response to the petitions and applications challenging the valid ity of the 2025 Act, submitted that the law seeks to address only the secular aspects of Waqf manage ment, to justify inclusion of non-Muslims in the Central Waqf Council and Waqf Boards.
The DMK in its response, set-tled through senior advocate P Wilson, said, “The distinction sought to be drawn by the respondent between waqfs and Hindu endowments on the ground of charitable breadth is demon-strably artificial and unsustaina ble.”
Further, the DMK said that the Centre’s argument that Waqf dif-fers from Hindu endowments because Waqf encompasses chari-table purposes such as healthcare, education, and aid to the poor and needy, is entirely “fallacious”.
The DMK also questioned the inclusion of non-Muslims in Waqf Board or Council. “The issue is not who benefits, but who administers -and the settled principle is that institutions grounded in religious
law and religious objectives must be governed by adherents of that religion, in keeping with the rights guaranteed under Article 26 of the Constitution,” DMK said in its rejoinder filed through advocate Anuradha Arputham.
To be sure, the Supreme Court earlier questioned the Centre whether Muslims will be permit-ted to be members of Hindu endowments as Centre justified including a maximum of four non-Muslims in the 22-member Cen-tral Waqf Council and maximum of three in Il-member Boards.
The IUML affidavit echoed the same sentiment by saying, “The respondent’s (Centre) artificial dis-tinction between secular and reli-gious aspects masks the Act’s intrusive impact on Muslim reli-gious rights.”
The IUML response, prepared by advocates Haris Beeran and Usman Ghani Khan, asserted that Centre’s portrayal of “waqf by user” being a “safe haven for encroachment” is factually incor-rect, and alleged that the assertion in Centre’s affidavit that registra-tion has been mandatory since 1923 is false, since the Waqf Act 1995 (that stood amended by the 2025 Act), protected unregistered “Waqf by User” under Section
3(r)(i), a safeguard now removed.
The DMK’s affidavit mirrored this view as it said, “The timing and manner in which the impugned legislative exercise was undertaken reflect a conscious and deliberate departure from the foundational principles of legisla tive transparency, democratic deliberation, and procedural fair-ness…”
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna and comprising justices Sanjay Kumar and KV Viswanathan will take up the petitions along with the responses filed by Centre, petition ers and other parties on Monday.
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C’GARH TO BE NEW LEGISLA TO STOP RELI CONVERSION
Press Trust of Indi
letters@hindustantimes.c
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