SC Seeks Centre Reply on Kerala Waqf Portal Deadline

The Kerala Waqf Board mentioned that about 25,000 out of 60,000 Waqf properties in the state still need to be checked and approved. Because of this the Kerala Waqf Board is asking for another six months to finish the work.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant listened to the case on Saturday. The bench suggested that a four-month extension might be okay. However the Supreme Court said they need to hear from the Centre because there are legal time limits to follow.

Supreme Court Seeks Centre’s Response

While listening to the case the Supreme Court asked why the Kerala Waqf Board is taking long.The bench noted that the Kerala Waqf Board seems to be moving a bit. The judges pointed out that there is a deadline under Section 3-B of the UMEED Act 2025.

The law says that checking and uploading property details to the UMEED portal must be done within six months. The law does allow for time in some cases but the total extra time cannot be more than another six months.

The Supreme Court thought that four more months might be enough. The court decided to send a notice to the government before making a final decision.

Kerala Waqf Board Says 25,000 Properties Are Pending

Senior advocate V Chitambaresh spoke for the Kerala Waqf Board. He explained that Kerala has Waqf institutions and Waqf properties.The Kerala Waqf Board says there are 13,000 Waqf institutions and more than 60,000 Waqf properties in the state.

The Kerala Waqf Board stated that they have already checked and approved than 40,000 properties but around 25,000 are still waiting.The Kerala Waqf Board also mentioned that the UMEED portal has problems. These technical problems have made it hard to finish everything by the deadline.

Why Is Kerala Asking for Time?

The Kerala Waqf Board argued that uploading this info is not about typing in data. In their petition the Kerala Waqf Board said that officials must look at everything closely. They have to check property facts and approve legal details before any records go onto the UMEED portal.

This is why the Kerala Waqf Board asked for a six-month extension to make sure the work is done the way. The Kerala Waqf Board argued that if they do not get time it could hurt thousands of registered Waqf properties. It could also ruin the goal of having one record for everything.

Original Deadline Had Already Expired

The official deadline to finish this task passed on May 17 2026 which was one year after the UMEED Act started.The Kerala Waqf Board went to the Kerala High Court earlier to ask for time. On July 8 the Kerala High Court gave the Kerala Waqf Board one month.

The Kerala Waqf Board said one month was not nearly enough to finish checking and approving the rest of the properties. So the Kerala Waqf Board went to the Supreme Court to ask for a longer extension.

Delhi Waqf Board Case Also Cited

The Kerala Waqf Board also talked about a decision from the Delhi High Court.In April 2026 the Delhi High Court gave the Delhi Waqf Board six months to put its property data on the UMEED portal.

That court also told the Union government to keep the UMEED portal open from May 15, to November 14.The Kerala Waqf Board used this example to argue that they should also get time to finish their work.

The Supreme Court is now waiting to hear from the Centre before they decide if the Kerala Waqf Board should get time.