Directs govt to maintain status quo till next hearing

India's Supreme Court yesterday put a hold on several provisions of the recently enacted Waqf Act for seven days and directed the central government to maintain the status quo till the next hearing.

The bench of CJI Sanjiv Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar and KV Viswanthan accepted solicitor general Tushar Mehta's assurance that the government will not make appointments to the Central Waqf Council and Auqaf Boards as per the 2025 Waqf Amendment Act and that properties already declared waqf by user and registered under the original 1995 Act will not be disturbed.

Further, the apex court also directed the government to file a response to the petitions within a week and allowed petitioners, challenging the amendment Act, to file a rejoinder in five days thereafter.

The bench, on the other hand, said it was impossible to deal with a number of pleas on the issue and clarified it would only five of them while asking lawyers to decide among themselves who would argue. The petitioners, the bench said, could file their rejoinders to the Centre's reply within five days of the service of the government's response.