In letter to Lok Sabha Speaker, Opposition MPs allege violation of rules in holding meeting on Waqf Bill

Opposition MPs boycott the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) meeting on the Waqf Amendment Bill, in New Delhi on October 14, 2024. | Photo credit: ANI

Opposition MPs on Tuesday (October 15, 2024) wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla about the “serious violation of parliamentary code of conduct” at the joint committee meeting examining the bill of Waqf (Amendment) by Panel Chairman Jagdambika Pal.

The letter came a day after several opposition MLAs boycotted a committee session over the presentation of former Karnataka State Minorities Commission chairman Anwar Manipady, who named several leaders of the opposition, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and K Rahman Khan, in the alleged embezzlement of Waqf. properties

“Proceedings of the Committee were conducted in a partial and partisan manner by Chairman Shri Jagdambika Pal”, Opposition members Gaurav Gogoi, Syed Naseer Hussain, Imran Masood (all Congress), A Raja and MM Abdulla (both DMK), Asaduddin Owaisi. (AIMIM) and Kalyan Banerjee (TMC) said in the letter.

The Joint Committee on Waqf (Amendment) Bill called on Manipady on Monday (October 14, 2024) to hear his views on the draft legislation in the context of the Karnataka Waqf scam report of 2012.

“The memo did not contain any observations on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024. Instead, it was full of politically motivated allegations against Karnataka Congress leaders, including Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Hon’ble Leader of the opposition (Rajya Sabha)”. said the letter.

Members said that despite vehement protests by several committee members that Kharge occupies a constitutional position of high dignity and is not present at the meeting, the chairman allowed the witness to speak.

The opposition members also said that Jagadambika Pal refused to give sufficient time to the committee members to submit their protests.

“We ask for your immediate intervention in the matter, and we hope that you will remind the Chairman of the Commission of his duty to be bipartisan and to respect parliamentary rules,” the opposition members said.