Joint Waqf panel holds first meet after tenure extension

The joint parliamentary panel on Waqf Amendment Bill has written to states, seeking details of all disputed Waqf properties under their jurisdiction, head of committee Jagdambika Pal said on Thursday.

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He said this after a meeting of the panel, which met for the first time after it was granted an extension by Parliament last week till next year's budget session, to submit its report on the contentious Bill.

Pal said the committee would also call states' chief secretaries to appear before it if required.

On Thursday, the officials of the Minority Affairs Ministry had briefed the panel and submitted responses to queries posed by various members of the panel.

"The replies run into 887 pages and will be scrutinised over the next few days," Pal said, adding that the next round of meetings will be held on December 11 and 12.

A member of the panel claimed that the responses submitted by the ministries were drafted poorly and that the Opposition would seek clarifications over those in the next few days.

The Waqf (Amendment) Bill had faced flak from Opposition parties and Muslim groups for its alleged attempts to interfere in religious matters. Pal said the parliamentary panel had decided to get an update on the points made by the Sachar Committee on the Waqf properties, alleged to be in unauthorised occupation of state governments or their official agencies.

The Sachar Committee was informed by various state Waqf boards during 2005-06 about the alleged unauthorised occupation. According to the information submitted to the committee, there are 316 such disputed properties in Delhi, 60 in Rajasthan and 42 in Karnataka that were reported to the Sachar Committee in 2005-06.