After the Centre assured the Supreme Court that no recruitment would be made to the Waqf Council and Boards and that waqf properties declared or registered as such via waqf by user would not be denotified till the next hearing, Opposition parties has welcomed the court’s intervention, with the Congress calling it “a win for the Constitution”. The Supreme Court said in its order that during the hearing on Thursday, Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, stated that till the next date of hearing, no appointments would be made to the waqf bodies and that the character of waqf properties would not change. Congress Rajya Sabha member and minority department chairperson Imran Pratapgarhi said the relief granted on Thursday was “a win for the Constitution and not for any side” in the dispute over the recent amendments made to the waqf law. “We thank the Supreme Court for the interim relief granted today. The points we had raised in petitions and in Parliament were considered by the Supreme Court and the relief today shows that this law is against the Constitution. There are several amendments which go against the Constitution. This is a win for the Constitution and not for any side. In the coming days, when there are more hearings, more relief will be granted and the government’s plan to usurp land will be stopped by the court. I have confidence,” said the Congress MP. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi after the Supreme Court order, Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi said, “This is not reform. It is retaliation in the guise of reform. It is retaliation meticulously scripted, strategically timed and constitutionally questionable. The Waqf Amendment Act is not an exercise in efficiency as it pretends to be. It is an exercise in erasure. Behind the bland language of governance lies the bold ambition of control. Religious autonomy is being reduced to state-administered protocol. And community rights are being redrawn with bureaucratic bends.” AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said the “legal battle against the whole Waqf Act will continue". “The Supreme Court has said that there will be a stay on deletion on waqf by user and also stayed the formation of the Central Waqf Council and state Waqf Boards… I was in the Joint Committee of Parliament on the Waqf Bill. I had opposed it there and had given a dissent note too. We consider the whole Act unconstitutional. This Act is a violation of the Constitution… Our legal battle against this Act will continue,” said Owaisi. Asked if Thursday's order was a “relief”, Owaisi said, “You need to understand the whole law. There is a provision that a Muslim must be practising for five years (to donate a property as waqf).” Samajwadi Party MP Zia Ur Rehman, who is also among the petitioners in the apex court in the case, said "there was a ray of hope after the court’s order”. “The hope that we had filed the writ petition with. We see some hope for justice now and the stay by the Supreme Court and it has granted a week. In the coming hearings, we hope that the points raised by us will be considered by the court. We hope for more relief,” the Sambhal MP said.
