The Parliamentary Committee’s report on the Waqf Amendment Bill is set to be presented to Parliament in the final week of November. Committee Chairman Jagdambika Pal informed if all opposition MPs assist, our arrangements are ready. The JPC will present its report to the Speaker during this session at the scheduled time. It is thought that the committee’s final meeting might take place right before the start of the Parliament session. This meeting might be scheduled for November 21 at the Parliament House complex. Nonetheless, a conclusive decision has not been made yet about the upcoming JPC meeting.
In the meantime, the committee’s 5-day study tour scheduled from 9 to 14 November was halted halfway. This tour had to be called off after being arranged for two days. Within two days, the committee conducted its study tour in Guwahati and Bhubaneswar. Nevertheless, the additional sponsored tour was unable to occur in Kolkata, Patna, and Lucknow. Before the tour commenced, opposition party MPs declared they would boycott it. Nonetheless, this journey went on.
Based on the information obtained, numerous NDA and BJP MPs requested permission to skip the tour due to assembly elections in two states and by-elections in a few others. Consequently, the committee had to conduct two meetings with just 5-6 MPs present. Subsequently, following the intervention of the Lok Sabha Speaker, the rest of the tour had to be called off.
Opposition MPs had also brought up the quorum issue concerning the missing MPs on this committee tour; however, as the JPC chairman noted, quorum is necessary for regular sessions but not for study tours. It remains uncertain if the Wakf Bill will be introduced during the winter session of Parliament. Nonetheless, JPC will finalize its report on the Wakf Bill promptly and present it to the Parliament.
In the meantime, committee chairman Jagadambikaa Pal has dismissed the remarks made by several notable figures from the Muslim community concerning the bill and the responses related to the parliamentary committee’s functioning.
Jagdambika Pal stated that Maulana Tauqeer Raza is using the rhetoric of Zakir Naik. He is expressing himself in a manner that will cause your spirit to quiver. He is performing the task of provoking. The committee is getting ready to present its report by the deadline.
In total, there have been 25 meetings of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) concerning the Wakf Amendment Bill. Typically, each meeting extended for 9 to 10 hours. The initial meeting took place on 22 August. During this period, conversations were held with 37 stakeholders from 6 different ministries. Approximately 123 stakeholders have presented themselves to the committee.