New Delhi. The Joint Committee of Parliament on the Wakf (Amendment) Bill held its first marathon meeting on Thursday amid objections from opposition members on several provisions of the proposed law. During the meeting, a presentation was made by the Ministry of Minority Affairs. There were heated debates at times during the meeting, but members of various parties sat for several hours to record their views on the provisions of the bill, give suggestions and seek clarifications.
Kalyan Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress, Sanjay Singh of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Asaduddin Owaisi of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and A. Raja of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), along with some other opposition members, questioned the need for several provisions, including giving more powers to the district magistrate and having non-Muslim members in Wakf boards.
Some members said the ministry did not seem ‘adequately’ prepared to answer questions raised in the meeting. A member of the committee said its next meeting would be held on August 30. Committee chairman Jagadambika Pal assured the members that the committee would talk to all stakeholders, including various Muslim bodies.
Parliament has assigned the task of examining the controversial bill to a 31-member committee headed by senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Jagdambika Pal. Opposition parties and Muslim organizations have opposed this bill. The Lok Sabha Secretariat said that representatives of the Ministry of Minority Affairs are expected to brief the committee on the ‘proposed amendments to the bill’.
Pal said before the meeting that the committee will discuss the bill in detail and will also discuss the concerns related to it. He said that the committee will listen to the voice of various stakeholders. He said, “We will discuss all 44 amendments and bring a good and comprehensive bill by the next session.” Pal said that the committee will call various Muslim organizations representing different sects so that their views can be heard.
The bill is the first major initiative of the BJP-led NDA government, aimed at improving the process of registration of waqf properties through a centralised portal. It proposes several reforms, including the establishment of a Central Waqf Council along with state waqf boards with representation of Muslim women and non-Muslim representatives.
A controversial provision of the bill proposes to designate the district collector as the primary authority to determine whether a property is classified as waqf or government land. The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 8 and referred to a joint committee of Parliament after debate. The government insisted that the proposed law does not intend to interfere in the functioning of mosques while the opposition called it a move to target Muslims and an attack on the Constitution.