New Delhi. The JPC to be formed to discuss in detail the ‘Waqf (Amendment) Bill-2024’ introduced by the government in the Lok Sabha will include 21 MPs from various political parties of the ruling and opposition from the Lok Sabha. 10 MPs from various political parties from the Rajya Sabha will also be included in this JPC. Union Minority Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Friday proposed the names of 21 MPs to be included from the Lok Sabha in the House and said that he proposes to refer the ‘Waqf (Amendment) Bill-2024’ to a Joint Committee of the House.
It should include 21 members from Lok Sabha and 10 MPs from Rajya Sabha including Jagdambika Pal, Nishikant Dubey, Tejaswi Surya, Aparajita Sarangi, Sanjay Jaiswal, Dilip Saikia, Abhijit Gangopadhyay, DK Aruna, Gaurav Gogoi, Imran Masood, Mohammad Javed, Maulana Mohibullah, Kalyan Banerjee, A Raja, Lavu Sri Krishna Devaraylu, Dileshwar Kamat, Arvind Sawant, M Suresh Gopinath, Naresh Ganpat Mhaske, Arun Bharti and Asaduddin Owaisi.
For this, he also proposed in the Lok Sabha to seek the names of 10 MPs from the Rajya Sabha. Along with the names of the JPC members, Kiren Rijiju also proposed in the Lok Sabha that after considering the bill, this committee should submit its report on the last day of the first week of the next session of Parliament. The Lok Sabha approved this proposal by voice vote.
The bill, which seeks to amend the law governing Waqf Boards, proposes far-reaching changes to the current Act, including ensuring representation of Muslim women and non-Muslims in Waqf bodies.
The Wakf (Amendment) Bill also provides for renaming the Wakf Act, 1995 as ‘Integrated Wakf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development Act, 1995’. Copies of this bill were distributed among the Lok Sabha members on Tuesday night.
According to the statement of objects and reasons of the Bill, the Bill provides for deletion of Section 40 of the existing law relating to powers of the Board to decide whether a property is a Wakf property or not. This amendment Bill provides for a broad-based structure of the Central Wakf Council and State Wakf Boards and ensures representation of Muslim women and non-Muslims in such bodies.
Tags: Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Waqf Board
FIRST PUBLISHED : August 9, 2024, 20:17 IST