Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Opposition MPs in the Waqf committee on Tuesday met Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla and complained against the JPC chairperson Jagdambika Pal.
On Monday, the Opposition MPs had written against Pal’s “unilateral” decisions, and threatened to disassociate from the JPC if he were to continue “bulldozing” the mandate of the Committee, they contended in the letter.
On Tuesday, the MPs met Birla to make their representation. After the meeting, the leaders said that Birla gave them a patient hearing. “It was a cordial discussion. The Speaker was very kind and very patiently heard us. He said he will look into the matter,” TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee told reporters after the meeting.
The trigger for the letter was a series of meetings that Pal had announced will take place on November 4 and 5. In their letter to the Speaker, the MPs alleged the Chairman of the Committee of taking “unilateral decisions on fixing the dates of sittings”. The MPs contended that some of these meetings are being held for consecutive three days, which they said, is not practically possible for MPs to prepare for.
On Tuesday, the Committee also took representations from the Dawoodi Bohra community, which was represented by the Anjuman-e-Shiateali as well as lawyer Harish Salve. Associate Professor of Aligarh Muslim University Dr Mohammad Hamir Ahmad, Dr Imran Chudhary of the Student and Madarsa Cell also made representations, in addition to representations by Akhil Bhartiya Adhivakta Parishad which was led by Shreehari Borikar and from Anveshak by Gaurav Agarwal.