Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has appointed BJP MP Jagdambika Pal as the Chairperson of the Joint Committee on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024.

A 31-member JPC on the Waqf Amendment Bill was announced in the last session of Parliament following demands by Opposition parties.

The committee has a tight schedule to complete its task. It will submit its report to the Lok Sabha by the last day of the first week of the next session of Parliament. The committee will have its first meeting soon.

The Bill, seeking to make changes in the management of Waqf properties in the country, was introduced in the Lok Sabha after a heated discussion.

The Opposition maintained the Bill would not stand judicial scrutiny as it encroaches upon fundamental rights of people and goes against the secular spirit of the Constitution.

Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju agreed to refer the Bill for study by a committee.

The 21 members of the Lok Sabha on the committee are Mr Jagdambika Pal (Chairman), Mr Nishikant Dubey, Mr Tejasvi Surya, Mrs Aparajita Sarangi, Mr Sanjay Jaiswal, Mr Dilip Saikia, Mr Abhijit Gangopadhyay, Mr D K Aruna, Mr Gourav Gogoi, Mr Imran Masood, Mohammad Jawed, Mr Mohibbullah, Mr Kalyan Banerjee, Mr A Raja, Mr Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu, Mr Dileshwar Kamait, Mr Arvind Sawant, Mr Mahtre Balya Mama Suresh Gopinath, Mr Naresh Ganpat Mhaske, Mr Arun Bharti and Mr Asaduddin Owaisi.

The 10 Rajya Sabha members on the committee are Mr Brij Lal, Dr Medha Vishram Kulkarni, Mr Gulam Ali, Dr Radha Mohan Das Agrawal, Dr Syed Naseer Hussain, Mohammed Nadimul Haque, Mr V Vijayasai Reddy, Mr M Mohamed Abdulla, Mr Sanjay Singh and Dr Dharmasthala Veerendra Heggade.

The quorum for a meeting of the JPC shall be one-third of the total number of the committee members. The Rules of Procedures of the Lok Sabha governing other Parliamentary committees shall apply to the Joint Committee.

The Waqf Act, 1995, was enacted to provide for better administration of Auqaf properties and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

However, during the course of implementation of the Act, it was felt that the Act had not proved effective in improving the administration of the auqaf properties which are donated or bequeathed. Amendments were made to the Act in 2013.