Did govt have enough consultations on Waqf Bill? Oppn asks
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The Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024 has been the bone of contention between the government and the Opposition parties, mainly aired at Joint Parliamentary Committee meetings being held on its provisions. And Monday saw yet another round of ruckus between the two sides, when the Opposition members asked to know if there had been any consultative process before the draft of the bill was prepared.
At a meeting of the Joint Committee, when the government representatives said that adequate consultations have been held, the Opposition grilled the the Union Minority Affairs Ministry on the consultation process before the drafting of the legislation. The Opposition alleged that the Ministry could not definitely establish a peper trail of the consultations that they claimed had taken place.
As per a submission by the Ministry, 12 officials from the Minority Affairs Ministry and the Law and Justice Ministry drafted the law. Four consultative committee meetings were held, two in Delhi and one each in Mumbai and Lucknow, a report in The Hindu mentioned.
It was explained that the Chief Executive Officers of the Waqf Boards in States and Union Territories took part in the meetings held in Delhi on June 13 and November 7, 2023, while the Ministry claimed that members of the public were also called for the two other consultations.
But as a senior Opposition leader said, “We had asked the committee to give us details of the consultative process that the legislation went through. Turns out the minutes of the meeting, they submitted about the purported consultations they have had, are basically meetings chaired by the Minister on administrative and operational issues regarding the implementation of the old Act".
The Opposition leader also pointed out that the minutes do not mention any reasons for bringing in the new legislation or clause-by-clause consultation with various stakeholders.
Another member wanted to know if the Central Waqf Council was involved in the drafting of the law, and additionally which of the 12 officials from the two Ministries had a specialised knowledge of the Muslim law.
“The Ministry has not been able to show a paper trail which can establish the process by which the law was drafted or consultations with all stakeholders happened. This raises several questions, including which extra-constitutional body was involved in drafting of the Bill,” a third member said.
