'Recommendations of Sachar panel not taken in Waqf Bill'

FORMER deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha and former chairman of the joint parliamentary committee on Waqf Boards, K.Rahman Khan has led two JPCs in 1999 and 2008 on Waqf boards

The Modi government has referred the contentious Bill to a joint parliamentary committee. The Former Minister of Minority Affairs spoke to Preetha Nair about past committees and why he is not in favour of the proposed amendments to the new Bill.

The Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024 has been sent to a 31-member JPC for a further scrutiny. Your take.

The government's decision to send the Bill to the JPC is a welcome step as the views of all stakeholders and affected people can be submitted. I don't think the present ministry has anything to do with this new Bill, as it's only a couple of months old. The government claims they held multi-layer consultations in the last 10 years. However, they have not consulted main Muslim bodies.

The Muslim Personal Law Board is important for the community. When I headed the JPC, we had a lot of consultations with the Muslim Personal Law Board and various NGOs.

It took more than seven months. In 2013, when I was the Minority Affairs minister, we brought major amendments to the Waqf Act 1995 based on Sachar Committee and JPC reports. The Bill was passed in 2013.