Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has declined to extend the time period for registration of waqf properties under Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, reported Bar and Bench.
A Bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice AG Masih on December 1 observed that those who wish to register the properties under Section 3B of the Act can move the waqf tribunal for extension of time in accordance with the law.
It, thus, declined to issue a general of direction for extension of time. “We have been shown 3B proviso. It is very clear. Go before the tribunal. If 6 months period is not sufficient, that point has been gone into by this Court,” the Bench said.
The court also refused to examine the issues with respect to the UMEED portal (Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency, and Development) which was launched for online registration of waqf properties. In September, a the top court had stayed certain provisions of the Waqf Act. However, it had also declined to stay many of the provisions under challenge in a batch of petitions challenging the legal amendments.
Notable, the court had declined to stay the requirement for all waqfs to be registered under Section 3B, considering that such a registration requirement was there earlier as well. There was a deadline of six months for mandatory registration of all Waqf properties from the commencement of the amended law. UMEED portal was launched by the Union Government for the purpose of registration of these properties.
One of the petitioners, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Chief and Lok Sabha member Asaduddin Owaisi had moved the court seeking an extension of time for registration of waqfs. Other applicants also sought similar relief.
