Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla with members of Joint Parliamentary Committee on Waqf (Amendment) Bill during a meeting, in New Delhi.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: In the midst of disruptions from Opposition members who trooped into the Well of the House to demand discussions on Manipur and Adani, the Lok Sabha on Thursday passed a motion to extend the tenure of the Joint Parliamentary Committee formed to examine the Waqf Amendment Bill to the last day of the Budget Session.
JPC chairperson Jagdambika Pal moved the motion amid disruptions, which was then adopted by a majority voice vote. The Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day soon after.
Pal later said that while the maximum time for the presentation of the report is the last day of the Budget session, the committee could present the report prior to the last date, too. “If we are done earlier, we will present the report before the last day of the Budget session. And if there is time, the Bill could be introduced in the same session,” Pal told DH.
Pal also said that in the meeting of the committee that took place on Wednesday, it was decided that six more states will give representations where disputes over Waqf properties have been recorded. “We had written to these six states, but we are yet to get a reply,” Pal said.
Committee member Kalyan Banerjee welcomed the decision for extension and said that more stakeholders will now be a part of the consultative process. “There are several states who are yet to make a representation; hopefully, now we will get them on board,” he said.
The committee’s meetings have seen several run-ins between the Opposition MPs and BJP MPs, with Opposition MPs complaining to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla against Pal on more than one occasion. They met Birla on Monday this week to ask for an extension, which the BJP MPs also agreed to eventually. The committee was mandated to finish its work by the end of November, but several meetings are due.
In the Lok Sabha, as the motion was adopted, Union Parliamentary Affairs minister Kiren Rijiju said that it was not part of Parliamentary procedure to disrupt. “The Opposition members had asked for an extension for the JPC’s tenure and now when the motion is being introduced, they are disrupting. This is against Parliamentary norms, and the Opposition MPs are taking away the rights of other members of representing their constituencies,” Rijiju said.