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In one of its significant directions, the Supreme Court has refused to stay a provision that barred the declaration of tribal lands as waqf properties.
In an interim order, a bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih did not stay the law in its entirety and upheld several provisions of the Act, including the key provision on tribal lands.
It also upheld the requirement of attaching a waqf deed for registration. The restriction that only Muslims can create waqf was also held to be consistent with the religious nature of the institution.
“We are of the considered view that a provision of the Amended Waqf Act, which has been enacted with the avowed object of safeguarding the interest of one of the most marginalised and vulnerable sections of our country, i.e., the Scheduled Tribes cannot be said to have no nexus with the object sought to be achieved. Such a provision cannot, therefore, be said to be prima facie arbitrary so as to stay the same,” it said.
Section 3E deals with the bar of declaration of any land in Scheduled or Tribal area as waqf.
“Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or any other law for the time being in force, no land belonging to members of Scheduled Tribes under the provisions of the Fifth Schedule or the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution shall be declared or deemed to be waqf property,” the provision reads.
Dealing with the issue, the CJI said that the provision provides that no land belonging to members of Scheduled Tribes shall be declared or deemed to be waqf property.
