Congress MP Mohammad Jawed and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday moved the Supreme Court challenging the 2024 Waqf Amendment Bill, reported Bar and Bench.

In separate petitions, the Opposition MPs claimed the bill was “discriminatory” and “unconstitutional”.

The bill, which seeks to curb the authority of waqf boards and allow greater government control over them, was passed in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, with 128 votes in favour and 95 against. It was passed in the Lok Sabha at around 2 am on Thursday with 288 votes in favour and 232 against.

The Waqf Bill now awaits the president’s assent.

Both Jawed and Owaisi were part of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the bill, according to The Indian Express.

In his petition, Jawed claimed that the bill violates the right to equality, freedom to practice religion, freedom to manage religious affairs, minority rights and right to property guaranteed under the Constitution.

The MP from Bihar’s Kishanganj also stated that the bill discriminates against the Muslim community by “imposing restrictions that are not present in the governance of other religious endowments”.

“For instance, while Hindu and Sikh religious trusts continue to enjoy a degree of self-regulation, the amendments to the Wakf Act, 1995, disproportionately increases state intervention in Waqf affairs,” Jawed was quoted as saying by Bar and Bench.

Owaisi echoed this in his plea as he told the Supreme Court that the Waqf Bill takes away “protections that are also granted to Hindu, Jain and Sikh religious and charitable endowments”.

The Hyderabad MP contended that the bill “brazenly violate[s] the fundamental rights of Muslims and the Muslim community,” Live Law reported.

A waqf is a property dedicated to a religious, educational or charitable cause under Islamic law. In India, waqfs are governed under the 1995 Waqf Act. Each state has a waqf board led by a legal entity that is vested with the power to acquire, hold and transfer property. The Act was last amended in 2013.

The 2024 bill proposes to amend 44 sections of the Waqf Act. The amendments propose to allow waqf boards to be controlled by the government to a greater degree, allow non-Muslims to be members of the boards, restrict the donation of properties and change how waqf tribunals function.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday morning called the passage of the bill in Parliament a “watershed moment in our collective quest for socio-economic justice, transparency and inclusive growth”.

“For decades, the Waqf system was synonymous with lack of transparency and accountability,” he said on social media. “This especially harmed the interests of Muslim women, poor Muslims, Pasmanda Muslims.”

He said that the legislation passed by Parliament would boost transparency and safeguard rights.

Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said on Wednesday that the bill was an “attack on the Constitution by the RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh], BJP and their allies”.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is the parent organisation of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

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