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Informist, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024

 

NEW DELHI – Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jagdambika Pal, who chairs the Joint Parliamentary Committee set up to deliberate on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, will table a motion in the Lok Sabha Thursday seeking extension of the deadline for the panel to present its report. The committee wants to seek time till the last day of the Budget Session 2025.

 

The committee was earlier slated to submit its report to the Lok Sabha by the end of the first week of the Winter Session. Parliament's Winter Session started Monday and is scheduled to end on Dec. 20.

 

"We still have to invite and listen to other stakeholders and state officials from six states where there are disputes between waqf (boards) and state governments," Pal told reporters Wednesday after a meeting of the panel. "Regarding 123 properties, there is a dispute between the government of India, the Urban Development Ministry, and Waqf boards. So we felt the need to extend the committee's tenure."

 

Committee member Aparajita Sarangi, also from the BJP, said a request would be made to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to extend the time for submission of the report till the close of the Budget Session. The committee was constituted on Aug. 9 for wider scrutiny of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill. On Monday, members of the Opposition had requested Birla to extend the committee's tenure "by a reasonable time" for proper consultation and deliberation.

 

The Waqf (Amendment) Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Aug. 8. The bill seeks to amend the Waqf Act, 1995, for "effective management" of assets and administration of waqf properties. It seeks to omit Section 40 of the Act, which empowered waqf boards to decide if a property was waqf property. It also seeks to streamline the registration of waqfs through a central portal and database, and make it mandatory to file within six months details of the waqf and the property dedicated to it. The provision will have retrospective effect.

 

The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance has opposed the Bill and alleged that it was framed without consulting the stakeholders. Opposition leaders have called it anti-Muslim, against cooperative federalism, and politically motivated. The Opposition also alleged that the Bill violates the constitutional right to freedom of religion.  End

 

Reported by Kuldeep Singh

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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