Oppn MPs demand postponement of JPC meetings on Waqf Bill proposed on Jan 24, 25

New Delhi: Opposition MPs in the Joint Parliamentary Committee examining the contentious Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 on Wednesday demanded postponement of its two-day meetings starting January 24 to examine the proposed legislation clause by clause to month-end.

Senior DMK MP A Raja wrote to JPC Chairman Jagadambika Pal on behalf of the Opposition members demanding that the meeting should be held a week later on January 30 for the whole day and on January 31 after President Droupadi Murmu’s address to the joint sitting of Parliament.

Recalling that Pal had assured that it will be positively considered after consulting the government, Raja said, “unless the sittings of the JPC is postponed, the purpose of the constitution of the JPC itself will be defeated, as it raises doubts in the minds of people of India that the secular fabric of the Constitution embodied in its Preamble itself are endangered and the due process in conducting the JPC is also not followed.”

In his letter, Raja said they were in receipt of a letter on January 20 asking MPs to submit their amendments by 4 PM on Wednesday as also holding the meeting on Friday and Saturday. He said tour programmes of the JPC to meet stakeholders at Patna, Kolkata and Lucknow were completed only on Tuesday and MPs have returned to their constituencies.

“It is very strange that the next dates of sitting of JPC were hurriedly announced without any formal discussion when the JPC was already on tour. Even during the sitting of JPC at Lucknow itself, it was requested by members that the proposed sittings of 24th and 25th of this month are practically not possible as the members are expected to discharge their duties/programmes in the locality,” he said.

He also said MPs were not in a position to recollect evidence and material in such a short notice which are essentially needed for the moving of the amendments and discussions. Raja also reminded the Chairman that the stakeholders who participated in discussions in Patna, Kolkata and Lucknow have been given seven-days time to submit their written suggestions.

The committee is waiting for it to be circulated and it was requested by most of the MPs during the sitting in Lucknow on January 21 that the next meeting be held only on January 30 and 31. 

Sources said the Opposition MPs had vociferously raised the issue of short notice for submitting amendments with Pal. A senior MP, who is a member of the panel, told DH that MPs usually get 10-15  day notice for submitting amendments.