ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Wednesday laid in the Senate the Covid-19 (Prevention of Hoarding) Ordinance, 2020, which attracted the ire of opposition benches who questioned the rationale behind laying the ordinance when both the Houses of the Parliament are in session.
During the session of the Upper House of the Parliament presided over by Deputy Chairman Senate Saleem Mandviwalla, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan laid the ordinance on behalf of Interior Minister Ijaz Shah.
Speaking on the floor of the House, senior Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader and former chairman Senate Raza Rabbani strongly criticized the government for promulgating the ordinance in April and laying it in the Senate only on Wednesday. "The ordinance was promulgated on April 17, 2020, and has been laid in the Upper House of the Parliament 89 days after its promulgation. An ordinance is a temporary legislation. It can be promulgated only during inevitable emergencies and has to be laid in any house of the Parliament in its first session after an ordinance has been promulgated. Both Senate and National Assembly met so many times but this ordinance was never laid. This is tantamount to depriving the House of its authority to review the ordinance. What was the haste and what was so secretive to keep this ordinance away from the Parliament for 89 days?" he asked adding that the federal government is habitually promulgating presidential ordinances while bypassing the Parliament.
In response, the state minister for parliamentary affairs agreed that the ordinance should have been laid in the first session of any House of the Parliament (after the ordinance's promulgation) but insisted that the government did not intend to bypass the Parliament. "This is a key ordinance that is all about eradicating hoarding of commercial commodities in the backdrop of the spread of COVID-19," he said. The minister proposed that the senators can review this ordinance from the forum of a parliamentary committee if they so desire.
The deputy chairman Senate remarked, "We have seen a pattern that ordinances keep coming-the ordinances like this one that are in public interest-who will not support such ordinances that are in public interest? I fail to understand why the government is shying away from bringing these ordinances to the Parliament?"
Senators including PPP's Parliamentary Leader in Senate Sherry Rehman, Rehman Malik also from PPP and Murtaza Javed Abbasi among others also strongly criticized the federal government for promulgating the ordinance.
Article 89 provides that an ordinance can be promulgated for 120 days but if a resolution disapproving the ordinance is passed in National Assembly or Senate then the ordinance stands repealed. Moreover, an ordinance can be extended for 120 days but if a resolution to disapprove the ordinance gets passed by either house of Parliament, it stands repealed.
Article 89 reads, "Power of President to promulgate Ordinances.-(1) The President may, except when the (Senate or) National Assembly is in session, if satisfied that circumstances exist which render it necessary to take immediate action, make and promulgate an Ordinance as the circumstances may require. (2) An Ordinance promulgated under this Article shall have the same force and effect as an Act of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) and shall be subject to like restrictions as the power of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) to make law, but every such Ordinance-(a) shall be laid -before the National Assembly if it contains provisions dealing with all or any of the matters specified in clause (2) of Article 73, and shall stand repealed at the expiration of one hundred and twenty days from its promulgation or, if before the expiration of that period a resolution disapproving it is passed by the Assembly (or Senate), upon the passing of that resolution. Provided that the National Assembly (or Senate) may by a resolution extend the ordinance for a further period of one hundred and twenty days and it shall stand repealed at the expiration of the extended period, or if before the expiration of that period a resolution disapproving it is passed by the Assembly (or Senate), upon the passing of that resolution: Provided further that extension for further period may be made only once."
Meanwhile, speaking on the floor of the House, Leader of the House in Senate Dr Shahzad Waseem said the federal government took practicable measures that helped flattening the curve of COVID-19 cases in Pakistan. "A confident leadership takes a close note of the happenings taking place worldwide by makes decision keeping in view the ground realities at home. That is what the federal government did under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, and, as a result, there is a visible decline in COVID-19 cases," he said.
Mir Kabeer Shahi from National Party (NP) said more than 28,000 persons in Balochistan have fake domiciles on the basis of which they were employed in different federal government departments on Balochistan's quota. On Shahi's request, the Chair referred the matter to the relevant standing committee.
Shahi strongly condemned the reports that the government was set to reduce the retirement age of government employees from 60 years to 55 years and abolish pension for the retired government employees, saying the political parties would resist any such move.
Other matters including shutting down of Pakistan Television (Bolan) transmission in Balochistan and absence of Wi-Fi internet facilities in different areas of Balochistan were also referred to the relevant standing committees.
The Senate would meet again on Friday.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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