Aspirant Academy
ENHI

RAS question

The Supreme Court stayed key provisions of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 in September 2025. Which specific provisions were stayed?

Correct answer: (B) Clause requiring 5-year proof of Islam practice for waqf dedication, and collector's power over waqf properties.

The Supreme Court stayed the five-year proof-of-Islam requirement for creating a waqf and the Section 3C provisions that would stop disputed property being treated as waqf and alter revenue or Board records on a government-property determination.

  1. (A)

    Provision requiring Waqf Board membership be expanded to include non-Muslims

  2. (B)

    Clause requiring 5-year proof of Islam practice for waqf dedication, and collector's power over waqf properties

  3. (C)

    Provision abolishing hereditary management of waqf properties

  4. (D)

    All provisions of the Waqf Amendment Act were stayed

Explanation

In its interim order of 15 September 2025, the Supreme Court refused to stay the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 as a whole. It instead gave limited protection on two points. First, it stayed the part of Section 3(r) requiring a person to show or demonstrate that he had professed Islam for at least five years before dedicating property as waqf, because no mechanism had yet been framed to test that condition. Second, it stayed the proviso to Section 3C(2), and Sections 3C(3) and 3C(4), which would have affected the waqf status of disputed government-property claims and allowed corrections in revenue and Board records before final title determination.

Why the other options are wrong

  • (A) The Court's stay directions do not cover the provision on non-Muslim members of Waqf Boards; the interim relief is confined to the Section 3(r) phrase and specified parts of Section 3C.
  • (C) The order does not identify abolition of hereditary management as one of the stayed provisions; the stayed text concerns the five-year Islam-practice condition and disputed government-property record changes.
  • (D) The Court expressly rejected the prayer to stay the entire Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 and granted only targeted interim stays.

Concept

This tests judicial review of parliamentary legislation through interim relief, especially how courts balance statutory presumption of validity with protection against immediate legal consequences. It recurs in RAS because governance questions often ask candidates to identify the exact operative part of a Supreme Court order, not just the headline.

Source

Related questions