Replacing words ‘federal govt’ with appropriate authority: PM asks ministries, divisions to take action at their own level

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar has directed Ministries/ Division to bring amendments of significant nature in Acts, Rules, Regulation, bylaws and other statutory instruments to replace the word “Federal Government” with appropriate authority aimed at resolving issues at ministries’ level instead of bringing them before the federal cabinet, well informed sources told Business Recorder.

At a recent meeting of Federal Cabinet, Ministry of Interior noted that Pakistan has an Extradition Treaty with UAE. In terms of Section 7 of the Extradition Act, 1972, the Federal Government may, if it deems fit, to issue an order to any Magistrate of First Class to enquire into the case who would have had jurisdiction to enquire into the extradition offence to which the requisition relates, if it had been an offence committed within the local limits of his jurisdiction.

The Ministry further added that as per IBMS/ travel history, the accused Shahzad Ahmed s/o Wali Muhammad Qureshi arrived at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi on February 2, 2017.

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It is in this context that Ministry of Interior solicited the approval of the Cabinet to appoint the Additional Deputy commissioner (G)/ Additional District Magistrate, ICT, Islamabad as Inquiry Officer to conduct a Magisterial inquiry into the extradition case of Shahzad Ahmed, so as to determine whether a prima facie case can be made out against the fugitive offender or otherwise.

The matter was discussed and the Cabinet argued that the matter for appointment of Inquiry Officer to conduct a magisterial inquiry should be dealt at the level of the Ministry itself and not to overburden the Cabinet with such cases.

During the ensuing discussion, one of the members proposed that instead of referring individual cases to the Federal Cabinet seeking approval for appointment of an Inquiry Officer to conduct magisterial inquiry into each of the extradition cases, the Cabinet may designate Additional Deputy commissioner (G)/ Additional District Magistrate (CT) as an Inquiry Officer in all such cases, which was agreed to.

The Chair also directed all Ministries to expedite compliance of the Federal Cabinet decision of August 8, 2017 regarding making amendments in acts, rules, regulations, bylaws and other statutory instruments to replace the word “Federal Government,” with the appropriate authority (ies) in consultation with the Ministry of Law and Justice.

The Ministry of Law and Justice informed that work was in progress in this area and sufficient number of amendments has been made in relevant statutory instruments. It was added that since Parliament was not in place; therefore, any amendments in Acts was not possible except through an Ordinance, but that amendments in rules and regulations could be processed.

Caretaker Prime Minister directed to consider bringing amendments of significant nature though an Ordinance. The Cabinet Secretary stated that the matter was also being brought up for discussion in the Secretaries’ committee meeting and that the Prime Minister’s office shall be kept informed of the progress on the matter.

The Cabinet designated the Additional Deputy Commissioner (G)/ Additional District Magistrate (CT), Islamabad, as Inquiry Officer to conduct magisterial inquiries into all extradition cases. The decision to conduct an inquiry, or otherwise, shall be made by the Federal Government in terms of Section 7 of the Extradition Act, 1.972, on case to case basis.

The Cabinet also directed Ministries/ Division to expedite the formulation of amendments in Acts, Rules, Regulation, bylaws and other statutory instruments to replace the word “Federal Government “ with appropriate authority(ies) in consultation with the Ministry of Law and Justice.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023