A motion would be moved in the Lok Sabha on Thursday for further extension of time of Joint Parliamentary Committee, examining Waqf (Amendment) Bill.
Till last day of the Budget Session, 2025 is sought.
The Business List of the Upper House mentions "motion regarding the report of JPC on the Waqf (Amendment Bill, 2024 – the extension of time".
JPC Chairman Jagdambika Pal and member Dilip Saikia will move the motion.
The motion states, "That this House do extend time for the presentation of the Report of the Joint Committee on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 up to the last day of the Budget Session, 2025".
The Bill is to reform the management and regulation of the Waqf properties throughout the country. It has been deferred because of heated debates and disruptions within the JPC — between ruling BJP members and the opposition leaders.
On Wednesday, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey moved a resolution seeking the JPC term's extension. The proposal suggested that the committee submit its report to Parliament in the first week of the Budget Session.
Chairman Jagdambika Pal has already prepared a 500-page draft report. However, there is a consensus that more deliberation is essential, given the sensitive and contentious nature of the Bill.
Recently, while addressing an election rally after the BJP's success in Maharashtra Assembly polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi targeted the Waqf Act, saying it was not something that the Constitution's architect, Ambedkar, had envisioned and that Congress had enacted the law for its vote politics. "Congress made laws to promote appeasement politics, and the Waqf Board is an example of it," the Prime Minister had said.
On August 8, the Centre tabled the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, which it had moved after opposition objections. The Centre tasked the panel with submitting a report by the end of the first week of the winter session. The committee has 21 members from Lok Sabha and 10 members from the Rajya Sabha and consists of 13 opposition members (nine from the Lower House and four from the Upper House).
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