Joint Parliamentary Committee on Waqf (Amendment) Bill holds 2nd meeting

New Delhi [India], August 30 (ANI): The second meeting of Joint Committee of Parliament headed by MP Jagadambika Pal on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 began on Thursday morning at the Parliament House Annexe.

As per information, the committee has called representatives of the All India Sunni Jamiyatul Ulama, Mumbai, the Delhi-based Indian Muslims for Civil Rights, the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board and the Rajasthan Board of Muslim Waqf.

Pal, the Waqf Amendment Bill JPC Chairman ahead of today’s meeting told reporters, “We had said in the first meeting also that if the government has referred the Waqf amendment 2024 to the JPC, then we will call as many Waqf boards of the country as possible, we will also call those who are part of our minority organizations…”

“The government’s view is that a better block amendment bill should come. All India Sunni Jamiatul, All India Muslim Civil Liberties ex-MP Deep Sahab has been called, and two Sunni Waqt Board of UP and Rajashtan have also been called…” the Lok Sabha MP said.

Meanwhile, the JPC has invited views and suggestions from the public, NGOs, experts, stakeholders and institutions as per a press release by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.

The release stated that those desirous of submitting written suggestions to the Committee can send two copies either in English or in Hindi to Joint Secretary of the Lok Sabha Secretariat, Room No. 440, Parliament House Annexe, New Delhi and also email to [email protected].

The suggestions should reach within 15 days from the date of the publication of the advertisement.

As per the communique, the memoranda or suggestions submitted to the Committee would form part of the records of the Committee and would be treated as confidential and enjoy privileges of the Committee.

Those, desirous of appearing before the Committee, besides submitting memoranda, are requested to specifically indicate so. However, the Committee’s decision in this regard will be final.

The Waqf (Amendment) Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha during the Budget Session of Parliament. It was referred to the 31-member Joint Committee of Parliament, constituted under the Chairmanship of Lok Sabha MP Jagdambika Pal which has been tasked with thoroughly examining the bill.

The Committee is scheduled to report on the Bill to the House by the last day of the first week of the Winter Session of Parliament this year.

The Joint Parliamentary Committee, comprises 31 members–21 from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha.

Lok Sabha MPs who are part of the JPC headed by Jagdambika Pal include Nishikant Dubey, Tejasvi Surya, Aparajita Sarangi, Sanjay Jaiswal, Dilip Saikia, Abhijit Gangopadhayay, DK Aruna, Gaurav Gogoi, Imran Masood, Mohammad Jawed, Mohibbullah, Kalyan Banerjee, A Raja, Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu, Dileshwar Kamait, Arvind Sawant, Mahtre Balya Mama Suresh Gopinath, Naresh Ganpat Mhaske, Arun Bharti and Asaduddin Owaisi.

The 10 Rajya Sabha MPs are -Brij Lal, Medha Vishram Kulkarni, Gulam Ali, Radha Mohan Das Agrawal, Syed Naseer Hussain, Mohammed Nadimul Haque, V Vijayasai Reddy, M Mohamed Abdulla, Sanjay Singh and nominated member Dharmasthala.

The government has stated that the amendments are necessary to streamline the functioning of Waqf properties and ensure better governance.

The Bill, proposed several changes including allowing a non-Muslim chief executive officer and at least two non-Muslim members to be appointed by the state government to the Waqf boards at the state level. It also proposed to make the District Collector the arbiter on whether a property is Waqf property or government land.