SC refuses to extend time limit for uploading of Waqf property details on UMEED portal

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to extend the time for the mandatory registration of all waqf properties, including ‘waqf by user’, under the UMEED portal. A bench comprising Justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih asked the petitioners to approach the respective tribunals before the deadline.

“Our attention has been drawn to the proviso to Section 3B. Since the remedy before the tribunal is available before the applicants, we dispose of all the applications by granting them liberty to approach the tribunal by the last date of the six-month period,” the bench said.

Besides the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi and various others have moved the top court, seeking an extension of time for mandatory registration of all waqf properties.

Earlier, a lawyer had said the six-month period for the mandatory registration of waqf was nearing its end.

In an interim order on September 15, the top court put on hold a few key provisions of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, including a clause that only those practising Islam for the last five years could create a waqf, but refused to stay the entire law, outlining the presumption of constitutionality in its favour. It also held that the Centre’s order to delete the ‘waqf by user’ provision in the newly amended law was prima facie not arbitrary and the argument that waqf lands would be grabbed by Governments held “no water”.

‘Waqf by user’ refers to a practice where a property is recognised as a religious or charitable endowment (waqf) based on its uninterrupted long-term use for such purposes, even if there isn’t a formal, written declaration of Waqf by the owner.

The Centre launched the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development (UMEED) Act central portal on June 6 to create a digital inventory after geo-tagging all waqf properties.

According to the mandate of the UMEED portal, details of all registered waqf properties across India are to be mandatorily uploaded within six months.