Opposition MPs want deadline of Waqf Bill panel extended

Opposition MPs on Tuesday urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to extend the deadline of the joint Parliamentary panel on Waqf (Amendment) Bill. They said it was an important legislation which required time to deliberate on all aspects in detail and the committee should not rush through the process.

The Speaker, according to reliable sources, is learnt to have assured Opposition members that he would bring in a resolution to this effect in the Lok Sabha. The deadline for the committee to submit its report on the contentious Bill is the last day of the first week of the forthcoming Winter session of Parliament, which is to begin from November 25.

The Opposition members also reportedly complained to the Speaker about what the “unilateral” working style of the panel head and BJP MP Jagdambika Pal. They informed Birla about how Pal conducts more than one meeting of the committee almost every week, complaining that “he wants to rush through the deliberations on the Bill”.

The panel’s tours to several states in the past and the ones coming up later this month were also brought to the Speaker’s notice, with the Opposition MPs questioning the need to conduct so many outstation trips. Birla is learnt to have assured them that he would look into the matter.

The meeting of Opposition MPs with Birla fructified after they had on November 4 written a letter to him, threatening to disassociate themselves from the committee, in protest against the “arbitrary” manner in which Pal conducts the proceedings of the panel.

Meanwhile, the Dawoodi Bohra community on Tuesday urged upon the joint panel that they don’t want to be associated as member of Waqf boards, pointing out that they are any way consulted by such boards on matters related to Waqf, as and when required.