Centre defers Waqf Bill report tabling in LS, Opposition says dissent notes edited

This comes amid Opposition charges that parts of their dissent notes on the Waqf Bill were redacted without consent.
Centre defers Waqf Bill report tabling in LS, Opposition says dissent notes edited
Updated on
2 min read

NEW DELHI: Though the report of the Joint Committee of Parliament (JPC) on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024 figured in Monday’s list of business in Lok Sabha, the government has deferred it for another day.

According to the ‘List of Business’ of the Lok Sabha Secretariat on Sunday, the chairman of the committee, Jagdambika Pal, along with BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal, were scheduled to present the report in the Lower House on Monday.

Both the members were also to lay on the table the record of evidence given before the Joint Committee of Parliament (JPC). However, in a late evening development, the Waqf Bill was removed from the revised list.

This comes amid Opposition charges that parts of their dissent notes on the Waqf Bill were redacted without consent. Congress MP Syed Naseer Hussain and AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi raised similar concerns on Saturday.

“As a Member of the JPC on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, I had submitted a detailed dissent note opposing the Bill. Shockingly, parts of my dissent note have been redacted without my knowledge! The Joint Committee on Waqf (Amendment) Bill ... was already reduced to a farce, but now they’ve stooped even lower — censoring dissenting voices of Opposition MPs! What are they so scared of? Why this attempt to silence us?” Hussain wrote on X.

However, speaking to this newspaper, Pal said Owaisi’s dissent notes ran into 200 pages and the dissent notes served no purpose after the amendments were passed.

The Waqf Act of 1995, enacted to regulate Waqf properties, has long been criticised for mismanagement, corruption and encroachments.

The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, aims to address these challenges by introducing reforms such as digitisation, enhanced audits, improved transparency, and legal mechanisms to reclaim illegally occupied assets.

Related Stories

No stories found.

X
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com