LS adopts motion naming 21 members for joint panel on Waqf Bill; will have 10 MPs from RS

New Delhi | The Lok Sabha on Friday adopted a motion naming 21 of its members to be part of a joint committee of Houses to examine the Waqf (Amendment) Bill.

The panel will also have 10 members from the Rajya Sabha and is mandated to submit its report by the last day of the first week of the next Parliament session.

Kiren Rijiju, who is the minister of parliamentary affairs as well as minority affairs, moved the motion that the Waqf (Amendment) Bill be referred to a joint committee of Houses consisting of 21 members from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha.

The Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on Thursday and referred to a joint parliamentary panel after a heated debate, with the government asserting the proposed law did not intend to interfere with the functioning of mosques and the opposition calling it targeting of Muslims and an attack on the Constitution.