The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that a strong case must be made out for staying a law, as it heard a clutch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf Amendment Act, 2025, reported Live Law.

“There is a presumption of constitutionality in favour of every statute,” Chief Justice BR Gavai was quoted as saying. “For interim relief, you have to make out a very strong and glaring case. Otherwise, presumption of constitutionality will be there.”

A bench of Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih adjourned the matter till Wednesday after hearing arguments for more than three hours. No interim order was passed.

The Supreme Court is hearing a set of petitions challenging the Waqf Amendment Act, which critics say discriminates against Muslims and interferes with waqf property management. The Centre has defended the law, saying it aims to prevent misuse of waqf provisions to encroach on public and private land.

A waqf is an endowment under Islamic law dedicated to a religious, educational or charitable cause. 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.

On Tuesday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Union government, urged the Supreme Court to limit the hearing to three key questions while considering interim relief.

However, senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the petitioners, opposed the move and called for a broader examination of the amendments.

The petitioners challenging the act argued before the Supreme Court that the law unfairly targets the Muslim community by imposing stricter and unfair conditions for registering waqf properties, unlike endowments by other religious groups, which face no such requirements, the Bar and Bench reported.

During the hearing, the Supreme Court also raised concerns over the significant changes introduced by the Waqf Amendment Act, 2025 regarding the consequences of non-registration of waqf properties, the news outlet said.

In April, the Supreme Court proposed to stay some provisions of the act, including the inclusion of non-Muslims in waqf boards and the denotification of properties declared as waqf by courts.