The Joint Parliamentary Committee meeting on the Wakf Bill will be held on this day

As part of its discussions on the proposed law, the Joint Committee on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill will convene on December 26 and 27 to record state representatives’ oral testimony.

On December 26, representatives from Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan will address the Committee; on December 27, representatives from Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, and Delhi will do the same.

The JPC had a meeting with Muslim delegates from Rajasthan and Lucknow on Thursday.

Following the discussion, Jagdambika Pal, the chairman of the Joint Committee of Parliament, informed ANI, “The former chairperson of the Rajasthan Waqf Board and the former vice chancellor of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Language University in Lucknow brought their recommended revisions. The topic was discussed clause by clause. They were also questioned by MPs.

Prof. Mahrukh Mirza, the former vice chancellor of Khwaja Chishti Moinuddin Language University in Lucknow, and Syed Abubakar Naqvi, the former chairman and state minister of the Waqf Board in Rajasthan, were on the committee.

The members of the All India Shia Personal Law Board met with the JPC earlier on Wednesday. The board’s opinions on the bill were presented to the committee.

A resolution to prolong the JPC’s term on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill was recently passed by the Lok Sabha, which also required that their report be presented by the conclusion of the 2025 Budget Session.

The JPC’s chairman, Jagdambika Pal, said on December 5 that the committee had met in Delhi 27 times prior to the extension of its term. Discussions with several stakeholders and ministries of the Indian government were part of these talks.

The Waqf Act of 1995, which was passed in order to control waqf holdings, has long been criticized for problems including corruption, poor administration, and encroachments.

By implementing changes including digitization, better audits, more transparency, and legal procedures to recover unlawfully occupied assets, the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 seeks to solve these issues.

To guarantee a thorough revision of the law, the JPC is consulting with representatives of the Waqf Board, government officials, legal experts, and the community in a number of states and Union Territories.