ISLAMABAD: The Federal Cabinet is likely to clip the wings of the Cabinet Committee on Disposal of Legislative Cases (CCLC), headed by Law Minister after serious differences erupted between the committee and Finance Advisor Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training, Shafqat Mehmood erupted, well-informed sources told Business Recorder.
Cabinet Committees are constituted in terms of Rule 17(2) of the Rules of Business, 1973, with a view to delegating the authority/functions of the Cabinet to a smaller group for detailed scrutiny and examination of all matters which fall within the mandate of the Cabinet. Decisions are then ratified by the Federal Cabinet Cabinet Committee on Disposal of Legislative Cases (CCLC) which was constituted to examine the cases of all fresh legislations/Rules as well as amendments to the existing laws/Rules.
However, the Cabinet, in its meeting on 25 August, 2020 severely criticised CCLC for "violating" its mandate on the one hand and directed CCLC on the other hand to limit its scrutiny to drafting and legality of the Bills/Rules and not question the concept/policy issues since latter is the prerogative of the Sponsoring Division or the Cabinet.
Cabinet Division maintains that the decision of the Cabinet needs a review as the scope of CCLC has been limited to drafting and legality, which, in any case, is the assigned function of the Law and Justice Division. Cabinet Committees are specialized fora of the Cabinet to hold in-depth discussions in a specific domain on behalf of the Cabinet. CCLC, just like any other Cabinet Committee, is mandated to take decisions on behalf of the Cabinet under its delegated powers.
Keeping in view the existing scenario, Cabinet Division has proposed that the CCLC may be assigned the following mandate: (i) to examine whether a fresh legislation or amendments in the existing laws are in line with the Constitutional scheme, not in violation of any existing law, and fall within the mandate of Parliament; (ii) to examine the contents of fresh legislations/Rules as well as amendments to the existing laws/Rules, and give its recommendations as to whether the proposed amendments are in line with the policy of the government and Constitutional/Legislative scheme; (iii) in case CCLC decides to amend the proposal of any Ministry/ Division, from a policy perspective, and the proposal is agreed to by the Sponsoring Division in the CCLC meeting, the amended proposal shall be placed before the Cabinet for ratification; and (iv) in case of disagreement between the sponsoring Division and CCLC on a policy matter, the points of view of both shall be placed before the Cabinet for a decision.
The composition of CCLC is as follows ;(i) Federal Minister for Law & Justice- Chairman;(ii) Minister for Human Rights, Dr. Shireen M. Mazari- Member ;(iii) Minister for Narcotics, Muhammad Azam Khan Swati-member ;(iv) Minister for Science and Technology, Fawad Ahmed Member-member ;(v) Federal Minister concerned by special invitation;(vi) Adviser on Accountability & Interior with the Status of Federal Minister, Mirza Shahzad Akbar;(vii) Prime Minister Advisor on Parliamentary Affairs, Zaheer ud-Din Babar Awan (recently notified) ;(viii)Attorney General for Pakistan- Member ;(ix) Secretary, Law & Justice Division- Co-opted Member;(x) Joint Secretary (IA-I), Prime Minister's Office Co-opted Member; and (xi) Cabinet Secretary.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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