Parliament Monsoon Session Updates: The proceedings of Parliement are expected to be stormy on Thursday with the Treasury bench set to introduce the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, in Lok Sabha, to further amend The Wakf Act, 1995. The bill proposes to ensure more accountability and transparency in the functioning of Waqf Boards and mandatory inclusion of women in these bodies.


With the bill proposing far-reaching changes in the Wakf Act, several Opposition parties have said they would resist the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government's plans. The Opposition has asked theTreasury bench to send the controversial bill to the parliamentary standing committee for further consultations before being taken up for passage.


Govt Vs Oppn


The BJP, however, has asserted that such a Bill is necessary to bring “transparency” in the management of waqf properties across the country. According to Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiu, the continuous demands and representations were made by common Muslims to make regulation of waqf properties more transparent and efficient.


“For a long time there have been continuous demands and representations from the poor and common Muslims, including women, to make waqf properties more transparent and efficient,” Rijiju said, according to a report by the news agency PTI.
 
Several Opposition parties, including the Congress, Samajwadi Party and the Trinamool Congress said that the bill, which is being opposed by some Muslim organisations, should be sent to the standing committee, which deals with the minority affairs ministry and has not been constituted yet.


Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav has said his party will oppose the Centre's move to bring a Bill in Parliament to amend the 1995 law governing Waqf boards and accused the BJP of trying to snatch the rights of Muslims.


"We will be against it (Wakf Act amendment bill)...BJP's only work is to divide Hindus and Muslims, snatch the rights of Muslim brothers and work on how to snatch the rights given to them in the Constitution," Yadav told reporters when he was asked about the proposed amendment. 


Rashtriya Janata Dal's Tejashwi Yadav has accused the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government of doing politics to “create a division between Hindus and Muslims”. 


“You must understand one thing: The Central government is not working for public welfare. They don’t care about the poor, inflation, or unemployment… The BJP does not care about all this. They only want to divide and do Hindu-Muslim for their political gains,” the RJD leader said according to a report by Indian Express. 


Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, on the other hand, claimed that the Central government came up with the Waqf bill to avoid discussion on the Budget. “Until it is tabled in Parliament, I won’t like to comment on it,” she said. 


Govt To Not Press For Passage Of Bill


The government has said that the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) will take a call about sending the bill to the parliamentary standing committee after assessing the sense of Lok Sabha. Citing official sources, a PTI report said the government will not press for the passage of the Bill after it is introduced in Lok Sabha. "Whether to send the bill to a Parliament panel for scrutiny or not will be decided on Wednesday but it cannot be ruled out," a source said.


However, it is to be noted that the department-related standing committees are not in place yet. Therefore, the bill may be forwarded to a special committee if the government accepts the opposition’s demand.


About The Waqf Bill


The Waqf (Amendment) Bill reportedly proposes to broaden the composition of the Central Waqf Council and state Waqf Boards by providing for representation of Muslim women and non-Muslim members. It seeks for appointment of a full-time chief executive officer of Waqf Boards by the state governments, who shall not be below the rank of joint secretary to the state government and not necessarily a Muslim.


The most critical of the proposed amendments seeks to amend Section 40 of the existing law that empowers Waqf Boards to decide if a property is a Waqf asset. The bill to amend the Wakf Act will make it mandatory for waqf boards to register their properties with district collectors to ensure their actual valuation. 


There are 30 waqf boards in the country. As per a PTI report, the revenue generated by all waqf properties was estimated at Rs 200 crore per annum. "This is not in sync with the number of properties such bodies have," they said.