Parliament Budget Session: JPC report on Waqf Bill to be tabled in Parliament today amid Opposition's dissent

Parliament Budget Session: The report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, will be presented in the Lok Sabha on Monday, February 3.

Jagdambika Pal, the Chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, along with Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP) Sanjay Jaiswal, will present the report in Lok Sabha, according to the List of Business.

Pal met with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla earlier this week to present the committee's final report on the bill. "We have adopted the report and the amended revised bill. For the first time, we have included a section stating that the benefits of Waqf should go to the marginalised, poor, women, and orphans," he told news agency ANI.

Opposition Dissent

The JPC on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill adopted the draft report and the amended revised bill on January 29. However, the opposition leaders submitted their dissent notes on the report.

“We had 44 clauses before us, out of which amendments were proposed by members in 14 clauses. We conducted a majority vote, and these amendments were then adopted,” Pal said.

The JPC adopted all 14 changes proposed by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance members. Overall, 66 amendments had been proposed — 23 by MPs from the ruling BJP and 44 by opposition members — to the panel.

The Bill seeks to make 44 changes in theWaqf laws that govern how Muslim charitable properties are managed in the country. The opposition's amendments were, however, rejected after committee members voted on party lines.

The panel has 16 MPs from the BJP or allied parties and only 10 from the opposition. 

AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi alleged parts of his dissent note on the JPC report were deleted. According to him, they just ‘stated facts’

"I had submitted a detailed dissent note to JPC against Waqf Bill. It is shocking that parts of my note were redacted without my knowledge. The deleted sections were not controversial, they only stated facts," he said on X.

In August last year, the Union government referred the Waqf Amendment Bill, which provides for a broad-based composition of the Central Waqf Council and the state Waqf boards, to the JPC for further scrutiny following objections from the Opposition.

The Budget session of Parliament began on January 31 and will continue till April 4 in two legs. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2025 on Saturday, February 1.