New Delhi, Apr 16 (PTI) Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court’s proposed orders in a PIL against the Waqf Amendment Act, and hoped there would be a follow-through when the court resumes the hearing the next day.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday proposed to order that the properties declared as waqf, including “waqf by user,” won’t be de-notified, but the Centre opposed the suggestion and sought a hearing before such a directive.

The top court also asked the Centre if Muslims would be allowed to be part of Hindu religious trusts. It went on, “All Members of the waqf boards and the central waqf Council must be Muslims, except the ex-officio members.” In a post on X, Moitra, who is one of the petitioners against the Waqf (Amendment) Act, said she is “delighted that SC proposed to stay three really egregious aspects” of the Act, and asked the government some tough questions.

In a video message, she said the SC put a “temporary stay” on certain provisions, and she welcomes it.

“Today, the Chief Justice of India and the Honourable Bench proposed an interim stay in the Waqf matter during the hearing. This is very good news and we hope there will be a follow-through tomorrow,” Moitra said.

She said the proposed order of not denotifying Waqf properties was a relief.

“The second relief is that while disputed Waqf property, the collector or the district magistrate cannot under any circumstances take that property back during the course of the inquiry,” she said “So, the danger or the uncertainty that any disputed property will go into the government’s hands, while the property’s ownership is being decided by the collector, will be stayed,” she said.

“The third most important thing that the Supreme Court has proposed, the relief, is that in the state Waqf boards and the central Waqf council, nobody except from the ex-officio members will be non-Muslim. So, the danger that the above amendment had, for example, in the central work of the council, was that out of 22 members, there could be a scenario where 10 would be Muslim and 12 would be non-Muslim,” she said.

“Today, that does not seem a possibility, because the maximum members, which will be ex-officio, will be two. So, there will be a Muslim majority on the state Waqf boards and in the central Waqf council. So, these three measures of interim relief that the Supreme Court has proposed are definitely extremely reassuring,” she said.

Moitra, who spoke on behalf of the petitioners, said they hope that the proposals will be made concrete in the form of a firm state Thursday, when the hearing resumes.

The bench, which did not issue a formal notice as of now, said it would resume hearing on the petitions at around 2 pm.

The top court also expressed concern over the violence that followed the law’s enactment and said it was disturbing when it was seized of the matter. PTI AO VN VN