Bill to write off loan/bad debts under Rs one million referred to standing committee

The 'Banking Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2010 would empower the Boards of Directors of all banks operating under the umbrella of State Bank of Pakistan to write off loan/bad debts of individuals and banking companies with less than Rs 1 million.
In case the amount of writing off loan exceeds Rs 1 million, respective banks shall submit a proposal to the State Bank of Pakistan, and the Board of Directors of the State Bank shall scrutinise and decide the fate of proposals, either writing off the loan or otherwise, giving justification thereof in writing.
As many as five various bills including 'Banking Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2010 and High Treason Punishment (Amendment) Bill, 2010 were referred to relative standing committees of the National Assembly for further consideration.
According to the Banking Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2010, "it shall be mandatory for State Bank of Pakistan to submit a comprehensive report of written off loans by the respective banks and State Bank of Pakistan, as provided in this Act, to the standing committee of the National Assembly on finance and revenue within six months."
The Bill further was referred to standing committee, moved by Nisar Tanveer, further says that "the committee shall revisit such waivers, by giving justification in writing and shall submit report of such waiver to the National Assembly along with the relevant papers of annual budget." The Bill described that the write off of loans, if any, in the names of Directors or their relatives/ dependents/ in which they have any interest and in the names of Chief Executives of the Banks shaft require prior approval of the State Bank.
According to the Bill, after the enactment of this Act, Boards of Directors of all the Banks, operating under the umbrella of State Bank of Pakistan, will have power to write off loan of individual(s) and banking companies of less than an amount of Rs 1 million. If the amount of written off loan exceeds Rs 1 million, respective bank shall submit a proposal to the State Bank of Pakistan, and Board of Directors of State Bank shall scrutinise and decide the fate of proposals either writing-off the loan or otherwise, by giving justification thereof in writing.
The Bill said: "Board of Directors of State Bank of Pakistan shall decide each proposal made by the respective banks within three months. State Bank of Pakistan and other respective banks shall ensure the laid down provisions of this Act, while writing off the loan;"
b) The write-off proposal shall be duly audited by the internal auditor/surveyor and approved by the State Bank of Pakistan;
c) The latest market value of properties or stock held as security against advances indicating present market value as well as forced sale value duly assessed by an approved auditor/surveyor shall be produced. No write-off be allowed, if the forced sale value of the security held by the bank is more than the outstanding amount recoverable;
d) Once the loan of an individual or a banking company has been written off, that individual or banking company shall be barred to get any other loan from all the banks operating within Pakistan;
e) Full particulars of written off loans should be reported to the State Bank of Pakistan;
A total of seven different bills, The Banking Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2010, The High Treason Punishment (Amendment0 Bill, 2010, The Pakistan Commission of Inquiry (Amendment) Bill, 2010, The Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2010, The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2010, The Price and Prevention and Hoarding (Amendment)Bill, 2010 and The Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2010 were moved in Tuesday's sitting of National Assembly on Private Members' Day. Two Bills, out of seven, The Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2010 was rejected, while The Price Control and Prevention of Profiteering and Hoarding (Amendment) Bill, 2010 was withdrawn.
An interesting and surprising situation rose when PML-N MNA Naseer Bhutta moved The Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2010. The treasury members supported him but most of his party members strongly opposed it. National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehimda Mirza rejected the Bill on opposition from most of PML-N members. The Price Control and Prevention of Profiteering and Hoarding (Amendment) Bill, 2010, moved by Shireen Arshad Khan of PML-N, was withdrawn, terming it a provincial subject under the passage of 18th Amendment.
Engr Khurram Dastgir Khan of PML-N moved High Treason Punishment (Amendment) Bill, 2010. According to this Bill, "A High Court shall take cognisance of an offence punishable under this Act upon a complaint in writing by any citizen of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan."
While moving the Bill, Khurram said that one sentence of this Bill could change political history of Pakistan. He said that every citizen of Pakistan is the custodian of the Constitution and the proposed amendment in section 3 of High Treason Punishment Act, 1973 would enlarge the scope of the person who can file a complaint against the person who has committed the act of high treason.
"This amendment will create an effective check on future adventures through empowering citizens of Pakistan to act in defence of the Constitution", he said.
He said that many adventurers have been encouraged to abrogate or subvert the Constitution repeatedly because none of them could be punished under the High Treason Punishment Act, 1973 due to the fact that the procedure provided in section 3 of the said Act is debilitating restrictive.
The PML-N MNA accused the federal government of lacking the resolve to put the dictator on trial, despite 71 percent of Pakistanis favour punishing Pervez Musharraf. Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan did not oppose the Bill. However; he said that first judicial murder was of Bhaghat Singh in 1930 and second of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
Similarly, as many as five proposed amendments of Muhammad Asad Khan, Ms Nighat Parveen, Shakir Bashir Awan and Abdul Majeed Khan Khanan Khail about Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of the National Assembly were also referred to the concerned standing committee of the House.