In two significant judicial developments shaping the nationwide implementation of the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development (UMEED) Act, 2025, the Waqf Tribunals of Telangana and Tamil Nadu have delivered landmark orders addressing the timelines and practical challenges associated with uploading Waqf property records on the UMEED Portal.
While the Telangana Waqf Tribunal has held that the statutory six-month period for uploading data has not yet elapsed, thereby terming an extension plea premature, the Tamil Nadu Waqf Tribunal has granted a full six-month extension, citing extensive technical failures that made compliance impossible within the original timeframe.
Together, the two orders offer legal clarity, state-level relief, and a clearer understanding of the procedural expectations placed on Waqf institutions across India.
Telangana Tribunal: Six-Month Period Begins Only After Rule Notification
The Telangana State Waqf Tribunal ruled that the six-month deadline under Section 3-B(1) must be calculated from 3 July 2025, the date on which the Central Government notified the Rules governing the formats and procedures of the UMEED Portal.
Since the statutory period was still ongoing, the Tribunal held that the petition, filed by the Association of T.S. Sajjadanasheen Mutawalli and Khildmatguzaran of Waqfs, was premature. The Bench also clarified that only individual Mutawallis, not associations, are legally empowered to seek such extensions, and must furnish detailed schedules of the properties concerned.
The Tribunal acknowledged the counsel appearing in Telangana for effectively presenting the issue and assisting the Bench in arriving at a clear interpretation.
In a parallel development, it was noted that Adv. Tahir Hakim of the Gujarat High Court was the first to identify and raise this critical legal interpretation, having already incorporated the same argument in his petition before the Gujarat State Waqf Tribunal. His early intervention is being seen as an important contribution in shaping broader legal understanding.
Tamil Nadu Tribunal Grants Six-Month Extension After Documented Technical Failures
In contrast to Telangana, the Tamil Nadu Waqf Tribunal, chaired by Thiru. S. Abdul Malik with Members Dr. A.V. Ailin Suneja and Mohamed Nowsath, granted a six-month extension from 7 December 2025 to 6 June 2026 to complete verification and uploading of Waqf property data.
The Tribunal’s decision came after the Tamil Nadu Waqf Board submitted detailed documentation of severe technical failures on the UMEED Portal, including:
authentication and login failures,
repeated session timeouts and crashes,
incomplete modules for boundaries and encroachments,
Village Land Code mapping errors,
lack of auto-save leading to data loss, and
inadequate helpdesk support.
The Tribunal found that these issues made timely compliance unachievable, severely affecting accuracy and workflow.
Tamil Nadu manages 45,048 Waqf properties under 6,865 institutions. As of December 2025, only 17,893 property records had been uploaded, leaving 27,155 pending. The Tribunal observed that the multi-stage Maker, Checker and Approver system alone requires substantial time even under ideal technical conditions.
Supreme Court Context & Binding Directions
The Tamil Nadu Tribunal referenced earlier Supreme Court directions stating that administrative extensions cannot be granted by State Governments or the Central Ministry; only State Waqf Tribunals may grant relief on a case-by-case basis.
Following this, the Tamil Nadu Tribunal issued four binding directions:
- Six-month extension granted until 6 June 2026.
- Extension applies to all Waqf institutions and Mutawallis, not only the Waqf Board.
- Waqf Board must set a 12-week internal deadline for institutions to submit documents.
- No further extension will be granted beyond June 2026.
A Turning Point for UMEED Portal Implementation
The two orders, though different in outcome, underline the need for:
legal clarity on statutory timelines,
technical readiness of the UMEED Portal,
capacity building for Mutawallis and Waqf institutions, and
state-specific solutions to administrative and digital challenges.
While Telangana has clarified when the statutory clock begins, Tamil Nadu has acknowledged the operational hurdles faced on the ground.
Together, these decisions provide overdue guidance to Waqf Boards and Mutawallis across India as they work to complete one of the largest public-interest digitisation exercises in the country’s minority affairs sector.
