The Waqf amendment bill is all set to make its way to Parliament once again in the Budget session as the Joint Parliamentary Committee scrutinising the bill adopted all amendments proposed by the ruling BJP-led NDA members on Monday. The JPC, however, negated every change moved by opposition members. While Opposition MPs cried foul, the committee chairman Jagdambika Pal said that amendments adopted by the committee would make the law better and more effective.
The opposition MPs decried the meeting’s proceedings and accused Pal of ‘subverting’ the democratic process. “It was a farcical exercise. We were not heard. Pal has acted in a dictatorial manner,” TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee alleged.
Pal rejected the charge, and said the entire exercise was democratic, and the majority view prevailed. One of the more significant amendments proposed by the committee is that the existing Waqf properties cannot be questioned on the grounds of ‘Waqf by user’, which existed in the current law but will be omitted in the new version if the properties are being used for religious purposes.
Pal said the amendments moved by the NDA members in 14 of the Bill’s clauses have been accepted. Opposition members moved hundreds of amendments in all 44 clauses and all of them were defeated by vote, he added. (With agency inputs)
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