New Delhi, December 5 (IANS). Jagdambika Pal, Chairperson of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) constituted on the Waqf Amendment Bill in Delhi, on Thursday gave information on the meetings held so far on this issue and the visit to the states. He said that so far 28 meetings have been held in Delhi on the Waqf Amendment Bill, in which discussions have been held with representatives from different states of the country.
Jagdambika Pal said that apart from 28 meetings in the capital Delhi, the JPC has also visited many states, so that information and suggestions can be obtained from as many parties as possible on this bill. He said that so far we have visited Mumbai (Maharashtra), Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Hyderabad (Telangana), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Bengaluru (Karnataka), Guwahati (Assam) and Bhubaneswar (Orissa). In all these states we met various delegations and held meetings with the Waqf Board, Minority Commission, state government officials and representatives of six ministries of the Government of India.
He informed that various stakeholders like Islamic scholars, retired judges, Vice Chancellors and Jamiat-e-Ulema were also invited in these meetings. Jagdambika Pal said that the government also wants that this bill should be discussed with as many stakeholders as possible, so that a deep understanding can be created on all the aspects related to this bill. The objective of the JPC is to seek opinion from across the country on various issues related to this bill and to understand the concerns of all parties.
Let us inform that the meeting of the Joint Committee of Parliament on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024 was called on Thursday at 3 pm. Minority Ministry officials also presented their side in the meeting.
Last week, Jagdambika Pal had approved the proposal to extend the tenure of the Lok Sabha committee. Before the beginning of the winter session of the Lok Sabha, Congress and other opposition parties had raised the issue of extending the tenure of the Lok Sabha committee.
Earlier, a JPC meeting was called on November 4 to discuss the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024.
JPC chairperson Jagdambika Pal, while sharing the information, had said that when the proposal for the Joint Parliamentary Committee was brought by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, he said that he wanted to send it to the JPC, so that we can involve more and more stakeholders, intellectuals, Islamic scholars, former judges, Supreme Court and High Court lawyers, minority organizations can be called and discussed.
–IANS
PSK/CBT
