18th Amendment: Bill approved by Cabinet

The Cabinet on Tuesday unanimously approved the 18th Amendment Constitutional Bill 2010, and decided to set up a committee to oversee, and provide guidance in, framing rules required for implementation of the provisions of the bill. Sources told Business Recorder that probably the shortest ever, 15-minute Cabinet, meeting considered the Constitutional Package only from a 9-point official agenda of the meeting.
The bill is most likely to be approved by the Parliament on Friday, they added. The meeting was informed by the Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms (PCCR) Raza Rabbani that the government would set up a committee to oversee the implementation and to provide guidance in framing the rules that would be required for implementation of the provisions of the Bill.
Sources said that the committee would devise a mechanism and explain implementation in respect o provisions of Concurrent List. The committee would explain whether all items on the Concurrent List or some of them would be transferred to provinces after the abolishment of the list.
There are some very critical ministries for social sector, health education and environment, besides many others on concurrent list and the committee has about their future. The Committee would also devise mechanism with respect to the provisions of sale tax collection on services by provinces and mechanism of joint control on mineral and other natural resources. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who chaired the meeting, said that the passage of the 18th Constitutional Amendment Bill 2010 would strengthen the federation and democracy.
The Prime Minister expressed hope that the bill would serve as a landmark in the constitutional history of the country and that the people would long remember this achievement of their elected representatives. The Chairman of PCCR, while explaining the salient features of the bill, said it was a unique piece of legislation in many ways.
The most important feature is that an incumbent President himself has given away his powers to Parliament and the people of Pakistan. Moreover, the Bill would seek to repeal LFO and 17th Amendment which were the symbols of dictatorial regime. Rabbani said that the passage of the Bill would take the nation back to original Constitution of 1973. "This legislation has enjoyed maximum wider consensus of political parties on the issue of provincial autonomy," he added.