Last JPC meets on Waqf Bill convened in a hurry, Oppn seeks more time

New Delhi: As the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill prepares to hold its final round of meetings on January 24-25, DMK MP A Raja wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and panel chairman on representing Opposition Parties on Wednesday, requesting that the sittings be rescheduled for January 30th and 31st.

As reported by the paper on Tuesday, Raja, in his letter to panel head Jagadambika Pal, stated that the Opposition informed the chairman of their inability to make modifications on such short notice during Tuesday's meeting in Lucknow and urged that the meeting be postponed.

The DMK leader stated in his letter that the JPC's tour programs to meet with stakeholders in Patna, Kolkata, and Lucknow were only finished on Tuesday, and the members were distributed from the tour program to their constituencies to continue their scheduled programs earlier, TNIE reported .

The purpose of the JPC's Constitution will be defeated unless the sittings of the JPC are postponed, the letter added, raising doubts that the secular fabrics of the Constitution embodied in its preamble itself are endangered and the due process in conducting the JPC is not followed.

“It is very strange that the next dates for sitting of JPC were hurriedly announced without any formal discussion when the JPC was already on tour”.

“Even during the sitting of JPC at Lucknow itself it was requested by the members that the proposed sittings on 24th and 25th of this month are practically not possible as the members are expected to discharge their duties/programmes in the locality,” he pointed out.

The letter stated that the members are unable to gather the proof or materials that are fundamentally required for moving the Amendments and having a discussion about them in such a short amount of time.