The Joint Parliamentary Committee's report on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, will be presented in the Lok Sabha on Monday, February 3. According to the agenda of the Lok Sabha, JPC Chairman Jagdambika Pal, along with BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal, will present the report of the joint committee in Hindi and English on February 3 in the Lok Sabha. They will also place on record the evidence submitted before the joint committee.
Earlier, the report on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, was presented to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on January 30, 2025. JPC Chairman Jagdambika Pal had reached Parliament to meet the Lok Sabha Speaker and submitted the final report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Waqf Bill. JPC approved the amended bill and its draft report on January 29. However, opposition leaders presented their dissenting notes on the report.
The JPC has approved the new draft with 25 amendments to the 14 clauses and sections of the Waqf Act of 1995. JPC Chairman Jagdambika Pal stated in a media conversation, 'We have adopted the parliamentary committee's draft report and the revised bill on the Waqf Bill. For the first time, we have included a section that states the benefits of waqf should reach the marginalized, the poor, women, and orphans. There were 44 clauses in the bill presented before us, and amendments were proposed by JPC members in 14 of those clauses. We conducted a vote, and then by majority, these amendments were adopted.'
However, the actions of the JPC faced criticism from opposition leaders. The Waqf Act of 1995 was created to regulate waqf properties. This law has long been criticized for issues like mismanagement, corruption, and encroachment under the guise of waqf properties. The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, aims at addressing these challenges through legal reforms for digitization, audit, transparency, and reclaiming properties under unlawful possession of waqf boards.
See Also: JPC Greenlights Waqf Board, Draft Report and Revised Bill to be Submitted to Speaker Tomorrow!
According to the Lok Sabha agenda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is slated to introduce a Bill to confer university status on the Ruler Management Institute, Anand. It will be known as the 'Tribhuvan Cooperative University Bill'. Through this Bill, Ruler Management Institute Anand will be declared an institution of national importance. It is noteworthy that the Parliament's budget session commenced on January 31 and will continue till April 4.
