Srinagar, Jan 24 (IANS): The joint parliamentary committee (JPC) on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 on Friday will hear the views and suggestions of Kashmiri senior religious leader, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on the proposed Bill.

A notice issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat’s Joint Committee on Waqf Amendment Bill cell said the parliamentary panel will hear the views and suggestions of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, patron of the Muttheda Majlis Ulema, Jammu and Kashmir, on Friday at the Main Committee Room, Parliament House Annexe, New Delhi.

The 31-member JPC, including leaders of all major political parties of the country, is headed by BJP MP Jagdambika Pal.

The meeting also assumes significance as it marks the first engagement of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq with MPs after the abrogation of Article 370.

The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 8, 2024, was referred to the JPC for examination following objections by the opposition over its clauses.

The Waqf Bill has come in for severe criticism from various Muslim organisations and religious leaders since the Bill makes registration of all the Waqf properties in the country with the concerned district magistrate mandatory.

Muslim leaders have also objected to the Bill on the grounds that these properties could finally be taken over by the government after being identified through registration with the concerned district magistrates.

As a Muslim-majority region, Jammu and Kashmir has Waqf properties spread over all the 20 districts of the union territory with most of these located at the prime locations.

Prime Waqf properties have been given on lease to people in Srinagar and Jammu cities with nominal rent, and there has not been any re-evaluation or re-assessment of rent in respect of these properties for decades.

In J&K there have also been complaints that the Waqf properties have been occupied by influential people, who have enjoyed the patronage of political parties in power over the years here.