CPI MP P Sandosh Kumar wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday alleging that the dissent notes submitted by the Opposition members in the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 were modified, urging him to look into the matter.

The JPC report on the Waqf Bill was tabled in Parliament amid a strong protest from the Opposition, last week.

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In his letter to the Speaker, the Rajya Sabha MP wrote, “I would like to bring to your attention the impropriety of procedure in presenting the report of the JPC on Waqf Amendment Bill, 2024 in both Houses of Parliament.”

He said when the JPC report was presented to the Speaker on January 30, he ordered its printing, publication, and circulation on the same day under Rule 280 of the Lok Sabha Rules of Procedure. Accordingly, the report was uploaded on the Digital Sansad website on that day itself.

Annexure IV of that report contained the dissent notes of some members of the JPC, both from Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, but with several pages/portions having been expunged there from, Sandosh Kumar further alleged.

“On the protests by the Members of Rajya Sabha, some of whom were members of the JPC on February 13, the day on which the report was listed to be presented to Parliament, some Ministers made divergent statements as to the expunction of the dissent notes, which shows their lack of understanding of the rules and procedure. Later on, after presentation of the report, a corrigendum to Annexure IV of the report was also tabled in Rajya Sabha,” he said.

The MP, however, claimed that the report presented in the Lok Sabha does not indicate any such corrigendum to the original report which was presented to the Speaker on January 30. “Hence, though it is crystal clear that dissent notes were modified as an afterthought, it is neither reflected in the proceedings of the Lok Sabha nor the report uploaded on the Digital Sansad website on February 13. The publication of the report without reflecting properly the later modification tantamount to misrepresentation of facts and misleading of Parliament and the general public,” he said.

Referring to Home Minister Amit Shah’s remark in the Lower House in which he said the ruling party has no objection to the inclusion of the dissent notes in the report, the MP said it smacks of the pure “authoritarian” approach of this BJP-led government.

“Moreover why does a JPC which has an independent existence from the executive and is supposed to oversee their functions require the ruling party’s opinion or acceptance to publish its report in whatever form it desires. This shows clearly that parliament’s authority is being undermined by the executive and the ruling party and their undue interference therein,” he said.

Sandosh Kumar asserted that the Union Cabinet does not have any locus standi as far as report of JPC is concerned. “I am well aware that the Speaker can decide on any expunction carried out in the report of JPC which shall be deemed to be final. The Speaker himself has admitted so in the Lok Sabha. “But his decision taken after the presentation of the report needs to be clearly indicated in the report. I hope your office will address these improprieties in the manner appropriate, will publicise the details and correct the anomalies,” he said.