Madhya Pradesh govt. reconstitutes Waqf Board under new law, inclusion of Hindu members draws criticism
Madhya Pradesh reconstituted its State Waqf Board under the provisions of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, becoming the first state to do so.
The newly constituted board has ten members, including two non-Muslim members and four women members — a first for the state's Waqf Board.
The reconstitution has been challenged as premature, on the ground that provisions of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 — including those on non-Muslim membership — remain under judicial examination before the Supreme Court in a pending constitutional challenge.
The matter is expected to be taken up before the Supreme Court, adding to the ongoing litigation over the Act's provisions.
The Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025
The Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 substantially revised the Waqf Act, 1995, and renamed it the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development (UMEED) Act. It expanded government oversight of waqf administration, altered board composition, changed the process for determining waqf property (including disputed government land), and removed "waqf by user" as a basis for future waqf claims.
Key Details
- Passed by Parliament in April 2025; renames the parent Waqf Act, 1995 as the UMEED Act.
- Mandates inclusion of non-Muslim members on the Central Waqf Council and State Waqf Boards for the first time — a departure from the 1995 Act, which required boards to be composed predominantly of Muslims (elected Muslim MPs/MLAs/MLCs, Muslim Bar Council members, and Islamic law experts).
- Removes "waqf by user" (recognition of waqf status based on long-standing religious/charitable use, without a formal deed) as a route for creating new waqf property.
- Alters the mechanism for determining whether disputed land is waqf or government property, expanding the role of the District Collector.
Madhya Pradesh's board reconstitution — with two non-Muslim members among ten — directly implements the amended Act's membership provisions, making it the first state-level test of this change.
Composition of State Waqf Boards — Old vs New
Under the original Waqf Act, 1995, State Waqf Boards were composed mostly of Muslim members: elected Muslim Members of Parliament/Legislative Assembly/Legislative Council from the state, Muslim members of the State Bar Council, and recognised experts in Islamic law, alongside government nominees. The 2025 amendment caps but does not eliminate this Muslim-majority character while adding non-Muslim representation for the first time.
Key Details
- Central Waqf Council (22 members): capped at not more than four non-Muslim members under the amended Act.
- State Waqf Boards (11 members): capped at not more than three non-Muslim members.
- The Supreme Court's interim order (September 15, 2025) directed that Waqf Boards must "strive to ensure" that the ex-officio chairperson remains from the Muslim community, while not staying the non-Muslim membership provision itself.
- The 1995 Act allowed separate Sunni and Shia Waqf Boards in a state where Shia waqfs constitute more than 15% of total waqfs or waqf income.
Madhya Pradesh's ten-member board with two non-Muslim members falls within the amended Act's numerical cap, illustrating how the new composition rule is being operationalised at the state level.
Supreme Court's Interim Order on the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025
Multiple petitions challenging the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 were heard together by the Supreme Court, primarily on grounds of Articles 25 and 26 (freedom of religion and a religious denomination's right to manage its own religious affairs), Article 14 (equality), and Article 300A (right to property). On September 15, 2025, the Court declined to stay the Act in its entirety but granted a limited interim stay on select provisions.
Key Details
- Provisions stayed in the interim order include Section 3(r) (requiring a waqif to prove five years of practising Islam before creating a waqf) and parts of Section 3C (concerning government property "identified or declared" as waqf).
- The Court did not stay the provision permitting non-Muslim members on the Waqf Boards and Central Waqf Council, subject to the numerical caps noted above.
- Article 26 has emerged as the central constitutional battleground: petitioners argue mandatory non-Muslim membership infringes a religious denomination's right to manage its own religious affairs, while the government's position is that Article 26 is a secular, universal provision that does not bar such regulation.
- The case (challenges clubbed together, including those filed by AIMPLB and others) remains pending for final adjudication.
Because the interim order left the non-Muslim membership provision operative, states can lawfully reconstitute Waqf Boards under the amended composition rules even while the broader constitutional challenge is pending — which is the crux of the objection raised against Madhya Pradesh's move.
- Madhya Pradesh: first state to reconstitute its Waqf Board under the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025.
- New MP Waqf Board: 10 members, including 2 non-Muslim members and 4 women members.
- Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 renames the Waqf Act, 1995 as the UMEED Act.
- Statutory caps: Central Waqf Council — max 4 non-Muslim members out of 22; State Waqf Boards — max 3 non-Muslim members out of 11.
- Supreme Court interim order: September 15, 2025 — partial stay (Section 3(r) and parts of Section 3C), non-Muslim membership provision not stayed.
- Constitutional provisions invoked in the challenge: Articles 14, 25, 26, and 300A.