Venugopal said referral to a JPC should lead to broader consultation and closer examination. He called for the committee to hear NGOs, charitable and religious institutions, voluntary organisations, legal experts and state governments before finalising its recommendations.
“It has, however, been learnt that no meaningful consultation with stakeholders is taking place, and that there is an intention to have the Bill passed hastily in the forthcoming Winter Session,” he wrote.
If those concerns were borne out, he said, the committee process would risk becoming a formality rather than fulfilling its intended purpose.
Venugopal further argued that public confidence in Parliament depended on laws being made after proper deliberation. He expressed confidence that Birla would ensure the committee fulfilled the mandate for which it was constituted.
Sharing the letter on X, the Alappuzha MP described the legislation as sensitive, with significant implications for the constitutional rights of minorities and civil society groups.
He said Parliament needed assurance that any Bill emerging from a JPC had undergone rigorous consultation and scrutiny. Without that, he warned, the exercise would be meaningless and amount to “a fraud on the Parliament”.
With PTI inputs
