Parliament Waqf panel accepts NDA MPs’ amendments, rejects Opposition’s changes
NEW DELHI, JAN 27 : The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) examining the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, adopted all amendments proposed by members of the ruling BJP-led NDA on Monday and rejected every change suggested by opposition members in a clause-by-clause discussion. One of the approved amendments is to increase the number of non-Muslim members of the panel. Now, two of the panel members can be non-Muslims.
Of the 44 amendments moved, changes to 14 clauses were suggested by the NDA members, all of which were accepted by the panel after a vote.
Some of the amendments adopted include:
Two of the Waqf panel members could be Hindus or from any other religion, as clause 11 of the bill says that any ex officio member (Muslim or not) will be excluded from the count of non-Muslim panel members.
Clause 14, moved by BJP MP Tejasvi Surya and amongst the amendments accepted, says that a person can only give his property to the Waqf if he is practising Islam for five years and there is no fraud involved related to the property.
The Waqf tribunal will now have three members instead of two and the third will be an Islamic scholar. Earlier, there was a provision for two members in the tribunal in the amendment bill.
Any official appointed by the state government can oversee and monitor a Waqf property. Earlier, such a power was with a collector authorised to conduct a property’s survey.
Some amendments also include allowing state government officials, along with district magistrates, to be appointed for certain roles and increasing Waqf tribunals members from two to three members.
The clause-by-clause voting on Monday saw 16 MPs from the ruling government voting in favour of the amendments, while 10 opposition members voted against them. The opposition’s amendments, spanning all 44 clauses of the Bill, were defeated by the same 10:16 majority.
The draft report will be circulated to the Waqf panel members on January 28 and a final report, of over 500 pages, will then be formally adopted on January 29.
While JPC chairman Jagdambika Pal said the changes were accepted by the committee on the basis of a majority vote, opposition members alleged that the panel chief “subverted” the democratic process by rejecting all the changes it had suggested.
“It was a farcical exercise. We were not heard. Pal has acted in a dictatorial manner,” TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee told reporters. Pal rejected the charge, and said the entire exercise was democratic, and the majority view prevailed.
The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 8 by Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju. Initially expected to be tabled during the Winter Session, it was referred to the JPC for detailed examination.
-PTI
