New Delhi, September 15: The Supreme Court of India has put a partial stay on certain provisions of the recently enacted Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025. The court’s interim order came while hearing a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the amendments.

A major clause of the Act, which mandated that only Muslims could be appointed as members of the Waqf Board for a minimum period of five years, has been stayed. The court observed that such a provision could raise concerns of exclusion and required deeper judicial examination.

The bench also issued directions regarding the participation of non-Muslims in the Waqf Board. As per the interim order, the number of non-Muslim members serving on a Board has been capped at three, until the final hearing and judgment.

Petitioners had argued that the amendments were discriminatory and went against the principles of equality guaranteed by the Constitution. On the other hand, the Union government defended the Act, stating that it aimed to bring reforms and transparency in the functioning of Waqf institutions across the country.

The Supreme Court clarified that its interim relief would not affect the ongoing administrative work of Waqf Boards but ensured that the contentious provisions do not come into effect until the matter is fully resolved.

The case will now be taken up for detailed hearing in the coming weeks.

Mumbai Maharashtra Samajwadi Party leader and MLA Abu Asim Azmi has demanded from Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to stop the demolition of religious places, houses and projects in the name of road and footpath expansion in Bhiwandi and protect religious places, temples, mosques and houses. Earlier, the government and MMRDA had spent an additional Rs 1700 crore on projects to protect the victims of the metro project. Abu Asim Azmi demanded from Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde that in the new development project of Bhiwandi Nizampur Municipal Corporation, a proposal has been made to widen the road by 6-6 meters from Rajiv Gandhi Chowk to Tim Ghar Marg, which is expected to make thousands of people homeless and unemployed, and temples and mosques will also be affected by this project, so this project should be canceled immediately. Azmi alleged that this project is causing a lot of hardship to the people and also endangering the existence of many religious places, so this project and plan should be stopped and a new plan should be prepared. Azmi said that this project and the expansion of roads and footpaths will only benefit the builder lobby, so the government should consider it so that the citizens of Bhiwandi get justice.

Mumbai: An alert has been issued after the Mumbai High Court and the Delhi High Court received a threat at the same time, but this threat has turned out to be a rumor. The police did not find any suspicious objects during the search. The bomb blast threat at the Mumbai High Court on Friday turned out to be a rumor when no explosive material or suspicious objects were recovered from here after the search. The Mumbai High Court received a bomb blast threat at 2 pm on Friday, after which the High Court was evacuated and a search was conducted from the judges’ cabin to the chamber. The bomb squad, bomb disposal squad and police searched the High Court premises but no suspicious objects were recovered. The threat was sent through post to the registered office. Along with the Mumbai High Court, the Delhi High Court also received a bomb blast threat. Both the courts were evacuated. A threat was also made to the Delhi High Court through an email, stating that Friday is a holy day for bomb blasts, so the bomb blast will be carried out at 2 pm. After the bomb threat in the Mumbai High Court, the police evacuated the building and during the investigation, the threat turned out to be just a rumor. All the rooms of the court were searched, but nothing suspicious was found. The Mumbai Police has started an investigation into the threat. Recently, the Delhi Special Cell had recently arrested five accused in the case of bomb blasts across the country, two of whom are residents of Kalyan and Mumbra, adjoining Mumbai. In such a situation, explosives and other documents were also recovered from their possession. They are said to be associated with ISIS.