Joint parliamentary committee clears Waqf amendment bill, approves 14 amendments
PTC News Desk: The joint parliamentary committee has cleared Waqf amendment bill by approving all the 14 amendments proposed by ruling BJP-led NDA members on Monday and rejected every change moved by opposition members in a clause-by-clause discussion.
The committee led by Bharatiya Janata Party's Jagadambika Pal said that all the 44 amendments proposed by opposition were rejected.
According to the reports, voting on the 14 proposed changes will take place on January 29, and the final report will be submitted by January 31.
The chair of the committee which had been monitoring the amendments was accused of bias treatment towards he ruling party. The accusations lead to a scuffle between ruling and opposition.
Several amendments were proposed inclding changes to 14 clauses. One of the significant amendments proposed by the committee is that the existing Waqf properties cannot be questioned on the grounds of 'Waqf by user', which existed in the current law but will be omitted in the new version, if the properties are being used for religious purposes.
Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju introduced the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024 in the Lok Sabha on August 8 and subsequently it was referred to the JPC for detailed examination.
- With inputs from agencies
