NEW DELHI: Rajya Sabha MP of the Communist Party of India (CPI) Sandosh Kumar P has written to the Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla alleging impropriety of procedure in presenting the Joint parliamentary committee (JPC) report on Waqf Amendment Bill, 2024 in both Houses of Parliament.In the letter, he stated that the report first uploaded on Parliament portal with several pages or portions of dissent notes of some members expunged.Kumar also mentioned ‘divergent statements’ concerning the ‘expunction’ made by the union ministers when some members of the Committee, who are Rajya Sabha MPs, had protested on the day the report was listed to be presented on February 13.The CPI MP further wrote that after presentation of the report, a Corrigendum to Annexure IV, containing dissent notes, was tabled in Rajya Sabha. However, the report presented in Lok Sabha does not indicate any such Corrigendum to the original report, which was presented to the Speaker on January 30.“It is crystal clear that dissent notes were modified as an afterthought, it is neither reflected in the proceedings of the Lok Sabha nor the Report uploaded on the Digital Sansad website on February 13. The publication of the Report without reflecting properly the later modification tantamount to misrepresentation of facts and misleading of Parliament and the general public,” read his letter.In the communiqué, Kumar said that the remarks of the home minister in Lok Sabha, which stated the ruling party has no objection to inclusion of dissent notes in the report, “smacks of the pure authoritarian approach of this Government.”He further questioned, “Why do a JPC which has an independent existence from the executive and is supposed to oversee their functions require the ruling party’s opinion or acceptance to publish its report in whatever form it desires. This shows clearly that parliament’s authority is being undermined by the executive and the ruling party and their undue interference therein.”The MP also stated that the union ministers don’t have any locus standi as far as the JPC is concerned.“I hope your office will address these improprieties in the manner appropriate, will publicise the details and correct the anomalies,” Kumar said.
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