The Punjab Assembly on Wednesday readopted 14 bills without any modifications that were sent back by Punjab Governor Latif Khosa for reconsideration. Twenty-eight bills, passed by the House, were sent to Punjab Governor for authentication but he had sent them back marked with objections.
Amidst protests from the opposition benches, the House readopted 14 bills which are: The Injured Persons (Medical Aid) (Amendment) Bill 2011, The Powers of Attorney (Amendment) Bill 2011, The Administrator General's (Amendment) Bill 2011, The Specific Relief (Amendment) Bill 2011, The Official Trustees (Amendment) Bill 2011, The Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2011, The Provincial Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2011, The Charitable and Religious Trusts (Amendment) Bill 2011, The Hindu Inheritance (Removal of Disabilities) (Amendment) Bill 2011, The Antiquities (Amendment) Bill 2011, The Disabled Persons (Employment and Rehabilitation) (Amendment) Bill 2011, The Factories (Amendment) Bill 2011, The Minimum Wages (Amendment) Bill 2011 and The Punjab Protection of Breastfeeding and Child Nutrition Bill 2011.
The opposition members belonging to PPP opposed the passage of the bills on the pretext that the Punjab Governor's objections had not been removed. PPP Parliamentary Secretary Zulfiqar Gondal, Shaukat Basra and Ihsanul Haq Naulatha argued that all these bills were linked with those departments that were to be devolved after the passage of 18th Amendment and the Implementation Commission had yet to finalise a list of departments that would be devolved to the provinces. "Thus, till a final list is compiled by the Implementation Commission, these departments still fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal government, and hence the Punjab government's act of passing these bills and in the process assuming the charge of these departments is illegal," they added.
They defended the governor (PPP appointee) by saying that he had rightly returned the bills to the Punjab Assembly for reconsideration after seeing anomalies in these. They also said it would have been more appropriate if the Punjab government had sent the bills to the House's business committee for its re-evaluation rather than re-tabling them in the House without reconsideration.
Mohsin Leghari of PML-Q had other views on the matter. He objected to the process adopted by the treasury benches to readopt these bills. He said under the House's Rule of Business, it was mandatory for these bills to pass through the same process that of a new bill, but the treasury benches violated the rules by bypassing them. He pointed out that to bypass the rules, the treasury benches issued a notification on January 21 that amended the rules regarding passage of bills sent back by the Punjab Governor for reconsideration. "Again, this notification violates the rules, as the treasury benches do not have the authority to amend the Rule of Business without the consent of the House. On both counts, the treasury benches are setting a bad tradition in the House," he added.
In response, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said they had acted within the domain of the law and these bills did not violate the Constitution. He told the House that after the passage of the 18th Amendment, the concurrent list had been abolished and thus all those departments that were included in this list, and were not made part of the Federal Legislative List, stand devolved to the provinces.
"Under these conditions, the provincial governments have the constitutional rights to assume the departments through legislation. Also, the decisions of the Implementation Commission are neither binding on the Punjab Assembly, nor administrative steps can stop the Assembly from exercising its constitutional right to legislate," he added.
During adoption of the legislation, the opposition benches made five unsuccessful attempts to disrupt the House's proceedings by pointing out quorum, but this time the treasury had come with preparation to finish the agenda of the House. . On numerous occasions, they also staged walkout from the House to protest against the approval of the bills.
The House also discussed the issue of spurious drugs that has claimed over 70 lives in the province. The opposition benches demanded Punjab Chief Minister's resignation for failure to check the supply of spurious drugs to the government hospitals. Opposition leader Raja Riaz Ahmed said that earlier 800 people had died of the dengue fever and now people had been dying due to use of spurious drugs. "It is all due to the Punjab CM, whose stubbornness is causing deaths of innocent people," he added. Earlier, the House took up question-answer session on youth affairs, sports, archaeology and tourism departments. Later, Speaker adjourned the House till Thursday morning.
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