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DMK MP Mohd Abdulla on Thursday said that his party will not accept the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) report on the Waqf Bill, adding that portions of dissent notes of the Opposition were removed from the JPC report.
"We will not accept it. It has been our stand since the beginning... Portions of our dissent notes were removed from the JPC reports; we will appeal regarding this to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and chairman of the Rajya Sabha," Abdulla told ANI. In the Rajya Sabha, the Opposition raised slogans against the JPC report. Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said in the House that it was not right to remove the Opposition members' dissent notes from the report. "In the JPC report on the Waqf Board, many members have their dissent report... It is not right to remove those notes and bulldoze our views... This is anti-democracy," Kharge said. "I condemn any report that has been presented after deleting the dissent reports. We will never accept such fake reports... If the report does not have dissent views, it should be sent back and presented again, " he added. Earlier in the day, speaking to ANI, the JPC Jagadambika Pal emphasized the committee had toured the country to collect inputs before finalizing the report, which included the adoption of 25 amendments across 14 clauses. "Today the JPC will produce its report in the Parliament. To have a detailed discussion and deliberation, the JPC was formed six months ago. In the last six months, we have prepared a report after touring the whole nation. We have adopted 25 amendments in 14 clauses," he said. The Waqf JPC Chairman also spoke about the concerns of some JPC members who felt their views were not heard, clarifying that dissenting notes have been included in the report's appendix, along with records from relevant stakeholders. "Some members of the JPC had a complaint that they were not listened to. After the adoption of the report, we asked them to submit a note of dissent. We have also attached the note of dissent to the appendix of the report. We will also present the records of the stakeholders today," Jagdambika Pal said. The Waqf Act of 1995, enacted to regulate Waqf properties, has long been criticised for issues such as mismanagement, corruption, and encroachments. The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, aims to address these challenges by introducing reforms such as digitisation, enhanced audits, improved transparency, and legal mechanisms to reclaim illegally occupied properties. (ANI)
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