Congress MP Mohammad Jawed and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday challenged the validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill in the Supreme Court, saying it violated constitutional provisions.Jawed’s plea alleged the Bill imposed “arbitrary restrictions” on Waqf properties and their management, undermining the religious autonomy of the Muslim community.The petition, filed through advocate Anas Tanwir, said it discriminated against the Muslim community by “imposing restrictions that are not present in the governance of other religious endowments”.Jawed, the Lok Sabha MP from Kishanganj in Bihar, was a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Bill and alleged in his plea that it “introduces restrictions on the creation of Waqfs based on the duration of one’s religious practice”.In his separate plea, Owaisi said the Bill took away from Waqfs various protections accorded to Waqfs and Hindu, Jain and Sikh religious and charitable endowments alike.Owaisi’s plea, filed by advocate Lzafeer Ahmad, said, “This diminishing of the protection given to Waqfs while retaining them for religious and charitable endowments of other religions constitutes hostile discrimination against Muslims and is violative of articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution, which prohibit discrimination on the grounds of religion.”AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan has also moved the Supreme Court, challenging the Bill’s constitutional validity.In his plea, Khan sought that the Bill be declared “unconstitutional and being violative of articles 14, 15, 21, 25, 26, 29, 30 and 300-A of the Constitution” and direction for striking it down.The Association for the Protection of Civil Rights, an NGO, has also challenged in the apex court the Bill’s constitutional validity.
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