Waqf Amendment Act 2025 Comes Into Force Today; Central Govt. Issues Notification
The Central Government issued a notification that the Waqf Amendment Act, 2025 has come into force today, following its passage by both the Houses of the Legislature in the previous week.
The Central Government has issued notification stating that the provisions of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 (Act 14 of 2025), will come into force on April 8, 2025.
This notification, issued by the Ministry of Minority Affairs, read, “In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of section 1 of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 (14 of 2025), the Central Government hereby appoints the 8th day of April, 2025 as the date on which the provisions of the said Act shall come into force.”
The Lok Sabha had passed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025 on April 3rd, 2025 The voting began at around 12.15 am on Thursday after the Bill was debated from Wednesday 1.30 pm onwards. The result of the voting was announced at 1.55 am. 288 Members of the Lok Sabha voted in favour of the Bill while 232 MPs voted against the Bill.
The Waqf (Amendment) Bill was passed in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha following marathon over 12-hour debates in both Houses, and also received President Droupadi Murmu's nod.
Concluding his speech before the Bill was put to vote, Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said that the word 'secular' is being misused and that India is secular, as opposed to Pakistan and Bangladesh, because the majority in India is secular and that this fact should be acknowledged. He also dismissed the charge that the attempt of the government is to divide Muslims of the Country and said that the Bill unites all sects among the Muslim community.
“The provisions of the Waqf Board have nothing to do with the management of any mosque, temple, or religious site. It is simply a matter of property management. However, Waqf properties are managed by the Waqf Board and the Mutawalli. If someone fails to understand this basic distinction or deliberately chooses not to, then I have no solution for that,” Rijiju remarked.
A pivotal change that the Act proposes to make involves the application of the Limitation Act, 1963 rom the commencement of the Amendment Act aiming to bring resolution of disputes that have often been protracted. The Act further proposes to redefine the authority responsible for handling disputes related to encroachments on government lands by Waqf properties, shifting this responsibility to a higher state government-designated authority, as per the Joint Parliamentary Committee's (JPC) recommendations.
