The Supreme Court on Wednesday proposed to stay some provisions of the recently-passed Waqf Amendment Act, including the inclusion of non-Muslims in waqf boards and the denotification of properties declared as waqf by courts, Bar and Bench reported.

A bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justices PV Sanjay Kumar and KV Viswanathan, however, did not pass an order to that effect and said that it would hear the matter again on Thursday. The court was hearing petitions challenging the Waqf Amendment Act, which came into force on April 8.

The bench verbally observed that it was considering passing an interim order to “balance equities”, Bar and Bench reported. The order will say that properties that have been declared as waqf by a court “will not be de-notified or be treated as non-waqf…whether it is waqf by user or not”.

The district collector can continue with legal proceedings, “but the provision will not be given effect to”, the bench was quoted as saying.

It added: “Third, regarding board and council…ex officio members can be appointed. But the other members have to Muslims.”

A waqf is a property dedicated to a religious, educational or charitable cause under Islamic law. Each state has a waqf board led by a legal entity vested with the power to acquire, hold and transfer property.

The 2024 Waqf Amendment Bill proposed amendments to 44 sections of the 1995 Waqf Act, including allowing non-Muslims on waqf boards, restricting property donations and changing how waqf tribunals function.

The bill was cleared by Parliament on April 4. It received presidential assent on April 5 and took effect on April 8.

The Congress and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, among others, have challenged the constitutionality of the bill in the Supreme Court.

During the hearing on Wednesday, the bench also asked the Union government if it would allow non-Hindus to be included in bodies that govern temples.

“Mr Mehta, are you saying that from now on you will allow Muslims to be part of the Hindu endowment boards?” the bench was quoted as having asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. “Say it openly.”

Mehta was representing the Union government.

The chief justice also expressed concern over the violent protests in West Bengal against amendments to the Waqf Act, Bar and Bench reported.

“One thing is very disturbing is the violence that is taking place,” Khanna was quoted as saying. “If the matter is pending here it should not happen.”

Protests have broken out in parts of the country over the amendment, with incidents of violence reported in several regions. In West Bengal’s Murshidabad district, three persons died when demonstrations against the law turned violent.

Defending the amendments, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday claimed that Muslim youths would not have had to “fix punctures” if waqf land had been properly used for the benefit of the community.

“In the name of waqf, there are lakhs of hectares of land,” Modi said at an event. “If benefits from waqf properties had been given to the poor, it would have helped them.”

He alleged that the “land mafia” had benefited from waqf properties instead.

Also read: Defiance to exemption: A history of the Bohra community’s resistance to waqf law