Waqf JPC Gears Up For 3-City Tour From January 18 To Meet State Boards, Legal Fraternity
The trip, scheduled between January 18 and 21, will cover places like Patna in Bihar, Kolkata in West Bengal, and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh
The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, will soon embark on a three-city tour to meet various stakeholders concerning the Bill and interact with state boards along with persons from the legal fraternity.
The trip, scheduled between January 18 and 21, will cover places like Patna in Bihar, Kolkata in West Bengal, and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh.
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The committee, which will assemble in Patna on January 18, will interact with the state board of Bihar, along with the officials of ministries of law and justice and minority affairs, apart from the minorities commission. They will also meet prominent people from the Bar Council.
The same day, officials from Jharkhand will also depose before the committee.
On January 19, the committee will travel to Bengal’s capital Kolkata, and a similar interaction will be held with the state authorities and Waqf state board among others.
On January 21, the committee will come back to the northern part of the country and hold a day-long meeting with stakeholders in Lucknow. Representatives from the government of Uttar Pradesh, along with the minority commission and Shia Board, will depose before the panel. Last time, the Shia Board was left red-faced when they came unprepared before the panel and couldn’t answer the questions the members asked.
The study tour being undertaken by the JPC is in continuation of an unfinished tour. In November last year, the panel had started its trip by visiting Guwahati and Bhubaneswar. However, the tour remained unfinished as the opposition MPs in the committee refused to travel, protesting against chairman Jagdambika Pal’s visit to Karnataka for a dharna being organised to support farmers who claimed that their land was forcefully taken by the Waqf.
The Bill was referred to the JPC in August last year during the Monsoon Session. During the Winter Session of 2024, the committee got an extension to submit its report before Parliament up to the last day of the upcoming Budget Session.
As per the data available, the committee so far has examined more than two dozen Waqf Boards, while eight to nine state representatives have come before the panel in Parliament. So far, more than 42 organisations/stakeholders have appeared before the committee.
The panel had held a study tour earlier across states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, and Gujarat, meeting 123 stakeholders.
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