Opposition MPs meet Speaker Om Birla
Opposition MPs have raised a demand for extension of the tenure of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Religious Endowments Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2024. Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi and opposition MPs met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday and tabled a bill and a request letter seeking extension of the joint working committee of the Waqf Board term of office. Reacting to this, Asaduddin Owaisi revealed the information on Twitter and said that the Speaker has assured that the request of the MPs will be actively considered.
In a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, the opposition members said, “We write to request you to extend the tenure of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Religious Endowments Bill for an appropriate period.” Notably, the committee on August 22 The first meeting was held, and since then 25 meetings have been held, in which representatives of unrelated organizations have spoken. The state governments of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi are yet to attend the committee meeting. Some other stakeholders are still seeking time to express their views to the committee.
We met the Honorable Speaker of the Lok Sabha @ombirlakota and requested an extension of the JWC’s term @ombirlakota Said he would actively study the requests from members of Congress pic.twitter.com/BBJJJVMhV9
— Asadowaisi (@asadowaisi) November 25, 2024
The letter further stated that the Waqf Amendment Bill is a comprehensive law that includes many significant changes to the existing laws. These changes will affect a large portion of India’s population. Therefore, a three-month review period was considered insufficient and could result in unfair recommendations. The term of the committee should be extended appropriately and should be subject to appropriate consultation and deliberation. After receiving the letter, the Lok Sabha Speaker assured the MPs that he would consider the request.
Waqf Committee Amendment Bill 2024
The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 is the first important law introduced by the Modi 3.0 government and has caused great controversy among Muslim organizations and the opposition. The bill, which was introduced in Parliament in August this year, provides for streamlining the registration process of waqf properties through a central portal. There is also a proposal to rename the Waqf Act 1995 as the Comprehensive Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development Act.
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