The committee stated in its report that it has recently noticed several cases where tribal lands were being declared as Waqf property. According to the panel, this creates a significant threat to the existence of tribal communities, whose cultural and religious traditions are different from those followed in Islam.
The Parliament’s Joint Committee on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, has recommended that the government introduce a law to stop tribal lands from being declared as Waqf property. This suggestion was made in its 655-page-long draft report, which was circulated less than 24 hours before the committee’s final meeting.
The committee stated in its report that it has recently noticed several cases where tribal lands were being declared as Waqf property. According to the panel, this creates a significant threat to the existence of tribal communities, whose cultural and religious traditions are different from those followed in Islam.
The panel warned about the increasing number of legal cases related to Waqf land acquisition, saying: “The increase in the quantum of land acquired by the Waqf Board and the number of litigation underscore the urgent need to address this serious concern.”
However, the report does not provide any clear data on how many complaints the panel has received or how many cases it has examined. Despite this, sources say that the report has asked the government to ensure that the rights of Scheduled Tribes and tribal lands under the Fifth and Sixth Schedules of the Indian Constitution are protected.
It states that any possible threat, whether “perceived or real,” must be addressed.
The committee has also urged the Union Minority Affairs Ministry to take “appropriate legislative measures to forestall declaration of tribal lands as Waqf land.”
This means that the government should introduce a law to prevent such declarations in the future.
Several Opposition MPs in the panel strongly opposed the way in which the report was circulated. They criticized BJP leader and panel Chairman Jagdambika Pal for giving them very little time to read and analyze the 655-page-long document before the final meeting on January 29, 2025.
DMK MP A. Raja condemned the process, saying: “We were told that the draft report of the committee will be discussed at 10:00 a.m. It is 655 pages and has been sent to us just now. MPs are expected to go through it and provide comments and submit dissent notes. This is simply not possible.”
He further questioned the independence of the parliamentary committee, stating: “What is the point of an independent parliamentary committee if the government does as it pleases anyway?”
