Waqf hearing in Supreme Court: CJI Sanjiv Khanna heard pleas challenging the amendment in the Waqf act. During the hearing, Khanna said when he was a judge in the Delhi High Court, it was said that the HC is built on Waqf land.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday heard multiple petitions opposing Waqf Amendment Act and challenged its constitutional validity. During the hearing, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna flagged concerns related to Waqf properties. “We are told Delhi High Court is built on Waqf Land… We are not saying all Waqf-by-user is wrong, but there is genuine concern,” Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna told Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
The bench, comprising CJI Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar and KV Viswanathan, asked both sides to address two key issues.
‘There are some genuine areas of concern too’
“We have been told the Delhi high court building is on Waqf land, Oberoi Hotel is on Waqf land… We are not saying all Waqf-by-user properties are wrongly registered, but there are some genuine areas of concern too,” Justice Sanjiv Khanna observed during the hearing.
Waqf Act in Supreme Court: Top concerns raised by the bench
A bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar and K V Viswanathan in the hearing earlier considered referring the pleas to one high court but later heard at length a battery of senior advocates, including Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Singhvi, Rajeev Dhavan and solicitor general Tushar Mehta, who represented the Centre.
The top court also expressed concern over the violence that followed the law’s enactment and said it was disturbing when it was seized of the matters. Top concerns raised by the bench are:
- Whether all waqf-by-user properties have ceased to exist as waqf?
- How can waqf-by-user properties, existing for many centuries, be asked to register? CJI gave the example of the Jama Masjid in Delhi.
- Is it fair to say that a property won’t be regarded as a Waqf till the Government’s authorised officer completes the enquiry into the dispute whether it is a government property?
- How can Section 2A proviso override the Court’s judgments which declare properties to be Waqf?
The bench, which did not issue a formal notice as of now, said it would resume hearing on the petitions at around 2 pm on April 17.
