NEW DELHI: With the expiry of both the Dec 6, 2025 deadline and a five month extension for uploading details of all waqf properties on Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development (UMEED) portal, Kerala Wakf Board has moved the Supreme Court seeking four months more to upload 25,000 properties apart from 40,000 it posted on the official website.A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana sought response from the Union govt. A coordinate bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and A G Masih on Dec 1 last year had refused to extend the Dec 6, 2025 deadline for uploading of properties registered in the names of waqfs on UMEED portal.Justices Datta and Masih had told the petitioners represented by Kapil SIbal, A M Singhvi and Mohd Nizamuddin Pasha that the wakfs can approach tribunals for extension of time. Kerala State Wakf Board had got a five months extension from the tribunal, which expired on May 17.The Board said, “Kerala has approximately 13000 waqf institutions and more than 60,000 waqf properties. That despite persistent technical issues, substantial progress has been achieved by the Petitioner herein in the matter of uploading the data. More than 40,000 properties have already been verified and approved and approximately 25000 properties remain pending for verification and approval.”As per the data given by the Centre to the SC, which had rejected interim stay on the implementation of Wakf Amendment Act, 2025, Kerala State Wakf Board had 53,282 properties spread over a cumulative area of 36,167 acres. As per the data given to the SC, India has 8,72,870 waqf properties occupying an area of 39 lakh acres, more than twice the size of Sikkim.
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The Centre had informed the SC that the 2013 decision to delete a provision of 1995 Wakf Act, which barred barring enforcement of rights over unregistered wakfs, has resulted in a massive spike in Wakf board properties from 2,07,394 to 8,72,870 and a corresponding increase in area from 18.3 lakh acres to 39 lakh acres.Kerala State Wakf Board said though the Wakf Amendment Act came into force on Apr 8, 2025, the UMEED port was operational only on June 6, 2025. “The legislative intention behind the provision is to bring all registered Auqaf into a centralized digital repository established by the central govt. The provision is regulatory and facilitative in nature and not punitive,” it said while requesting the SC to grant it four months more to complete uploading of the details of balance 25,000 waqf properties on the portal.