The joint parliamentary committee examining the contentious waqf amendment bill formally adopted its report and the amended version of the proposed legislation on Wednesday through a majority vote.
Opposition members submitted lengthy dissent notes slamming the provisions as "perverse" and "unsustainable".
The JPC had cleared the draft report on Monday and it was cleared at a meeting on Wednesday, sweeping aside the allegation of the Opposition members that they had no time to review the 655-page report. The Opposition members said the draft report was sent to them on Tuesday evening and they were asked to give their remarks by 10am on Wednesday.
In their dissent notes, the Opposition members alleged that "not a single" submission made by the stakeholders and witnesses during the deliberations of the panel had been included in the draft report circulated to them. The dissent notes alleged that the draft report reflected only the preconceived views of the panel chairman, Jagdambika Pal, and the ruling party regarding the waqf amendment bill.
"The observations and recommendations made in the draft report are a glaring instance of preconceived notions and views of the chairperson and the members of the ruling party," the dissent note submitted by Trinamool Congress members Kalyan Banerjee and Nadimul Haque said, sources said.
"The observations and/or recommendations are violative of Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution of India…. While making such observations and/or recommendations, the history of the waqf, Islamic laws and Islamic practices have not been taken into consideration," Trinamool's dissent note said.
On Wednesday, too, the report was adopted with 16 members in favour and 11 in opposition. The report is likely to be submitted before the Lok Sabha Speaker on Thursday and will be tabled before Parliament during the upcoming budget session. The government plans to push the politically sensitive bill in the session.
The dissent note by Congress MP Naseer Hussain said the amendments proposed in the bill are "deeply flawed, unnecessary, and detrimental to the governance and protection of waqf properties".