NEW DELHI: After protests by opposition members on the panel, the Joint Parliamentary Committee scrutinising the Waqf (Amendment) Bill passed a resolution seeking extension of time for presentation of its report till the last day of the budget session next year.
JPC chairperson and BJP member Jagdambika Pal will move a motion in LS on Thursday as per the business listed for the day to seek approval of the House for the extension.
The JPC decided to move the resolution after a slugfest at Wednesday’s meeting of the committee where opposition members stormed out alleging that its proceedings had become a “mockery”. They, however, returned to attend the meeting after an hour amid indications that the chairperson would seek an extension in its term.
Though the deferment marked a win for the opposition, it may also have helped push the likely debate and passage on the controversial bill closer to voting for Delhi polls likely to be scheduled in Feb.
The budget session will be held from Feb 1. Thanks to the postponement, the two Houses may get to debate the bill just days ahead of the polls in Delhi, where properties handed over to the Waqf Board are set to be a key poll issue.
BJP has said that the Congress-led UPA amended the Waqf Act in 2013 as part of its appeasement politics. In his celebratory speech on Nov 23 after the Maharashtra win, PM Narendra Modi had claimed that before Congress rule ended in 2014, the party handed over several properties near Delhi to the Waqf Board.
“In its hunger for power, the Congress family has destroyed the Constitution’s secular values,” Modi had said, adding that Congress formed laws to promote appeasement politics and the Waqf Board was an example of it.
Earlier in the day, Gaurav Gogoi of Congress, A Raja of DMK, Sanjay Singh of AAP and Kalyan Banerjee of TMC protested the conduct of Pal, alleging that he was keen to wrap up its proceedings by the Nov 29 deadline without completing due process.
On Monday, which was the first day of winter session of Parliament, opposition MPs in JPC had met LS Speaker Om Birla and submitted a memorandum seeking extension of the deadline for the committee to submit its report.
The bill seeks to amend the Waqf Act, 1995, to ensure more accountability and transparency in the functioning of Waqf Boards and also has provisions for mandatory inclusion of women in these bodies.
