Panel’s head says Waqf draft report ready, Oppn pushes for extension

The committee held its 28th meeting on Thursday and Jagdambika Pal is believed to have said that the panel has invited sufficient witnesses and held enough meetings.

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Jagdambika Pal, the chairman of the joint parliamentary committee looking into the controversial Waqf (amendments) bill, indicated on Thursday that the panel may soon start the process of adopting the draft report even as Opposition members of the panel remained adamant about further discussions and said they might meet Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday to seek an extension.

The committee held its 28th meeting on Thursday and Jagdambika Pal is believed to have said that the panel has invited sufficient witnesses and held enough meetings. (HT PHOTO)

The committee held its 28th meeting on Thursday and Pal is believed to have said that the panel has invited sufficient witnesses and held enough meetings, and can now proceed to the last stage of clause-by-clause discussions on the bill to adopt the panel’s report.

“Our draft report is ready. We will soon give a date for clause by clause discussion on its recommendations,” Pal told reporters on Thursday, after a marathon meeting of six hours, during which the Union minority affairs ministry gave a detailed presentation to justify the proposed changes in the waqf laws.

As Pal indicated to the panel members that the draft report can be discussed, two Opposition members, Trinamool Congress’s Kalyan Banerjee and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi lodged protests and demanded an extended review of the bill that aims for more centralised control over the waqf properties.

According to a senior functionary associated with the panel, Pal even told the two Opposition leaders that they should talk to Lok Sabha Speaker if they want to seek an extension of the panel. The Joint Committee of Parliament has time till November 29 to submit its report on the bill.

Any extension to the panel can only be given by the Lok Sabha, which had constituted the panel in the monsoon session.

The Opposition MPs from Congress, TMC, AIMIM and Aam Aadmi Party are also likely to argue before the Speaker that the committee should call witnesses from a diverse background and not just those who toe the line of the ruling dispensation.

“Most of the witnesses so far have toed the official line in the panel meetings. We must call more witnesses from a diverse background,” said a senior leader, requesting anonymity.

To be sure, the panel has met a number of waqf boards, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and various Muslim bodies who have opposed the new bill.

The Narendra Modi government will try to bring five new bills and pass ten pieces of legislation, including the contentious Waqf (Amendment) Bill in the upcoming winter session of Parliament that is likely to see a fresh confrontation between the Opposition and the government over violence in Manipur and the controversy over Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch.

The controversial bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in August. The draft bill proposed sweeping changes in the regulation and governance of India’s waqf boards, which manage Islamic charitable endowments. The government argued that the bill will modernise an archaic and complex system in line with recommendations of the 2006 Rajinder Sachar Committee. But the Opposition demanded greater scrutiny for the bill, alleging that it would hurt Muslim communities.