ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Science and Technology on Wednesday approved “The Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources Amendment Bill 2021 (Ordinance No XIX)”.
The meeting of the Standing Committee on Science and Technology was held under the chairmanship of Sajid Mehdi.
The committee, unanimously, confirmed the minutes of the previous meeting held on 13th October 2021.
The committee expressed its satisfaction on implementation status of previous recommendations and disposed of the same.
The committee considered the bill, “The Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (Amendment) Bill, 2021 (Ordinance No XIX of 2021)” (government bill).
Ministry of Law and Justice supported the bill.
According to the bill’s object and reason, Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) was established in 1964 and is working as a body corporate vide PCRWR Act 2OO7 under Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST).
According to PCRWR Act 2OO7, rules of PCRWR shall have provision for two-track appointment: contractual and permanent which is a complicated way of recruitment as it allows to advertise a specific post twice. In order to make recruitment process simple and much transparent the amendment is proposed in the Act. During detailed discussion, the issue of scarcity of water was also considered.
The committee recommended that in future, a meeting shall be held at the PCRWR for briefing and consideration of various steps being taken by the PCRWR to address the issue of water shortage and steps being taken by the government to reduce the wastage of water and recycling of used water.
After detailed discussion, the committee recommended that the bill may be passed by the National Assembly.
The committee considered the bill, “The National University of Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2020” (moved by RiazFatyana, MNA).
The committee appreciated the object and efforts of member.
Mover, National Assembly Member Riaz Fatyana, while commenting on his “National University of Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2020”, said that this law shall be made as a special law for all universities. Pakistan is a heavily legislated country, he said.
Riaz Fatyana said that implementation of laws is a challenge for courts and institutions.
The members of the committee said that after the rules have been made by the standing committees, they do not have the power to scrutinise.
The standing committees have the power to scrutinise before the law is enacted.
The bill’s mover, Riaz Fatyana, said that instead of framing new law separately for every institution, amendments should be made in the current laws as too many laws create more confusion.
The Standing Committee recommended that the bill should be referred to the Standing Committee on Law and Justice. The representative also supported the bill.
After detailed deliberations, the committee recommended that the bill be referred to the Standing Committee on Law and Justice for further consideration with assistance of the Ministry of Law and Justice either to formulate single umbrella law to carry forward the said concept for all laws in Pakistan or otherwise.
The committee did not consider the bill, “The Contractors Registration Bill, 2021” moved by Uzma Riaz, MNA, due to non-availability of the mover and deferred the same till the next meeting as requested by her.
Members/MNAs/movers Engr Usman Khan Tarakai, Shoukat Ali Bhatti, Sobia Kamal Khan, Dr Mukhtar Ahmad Malik, Zaib Jaffar, Khursheed Ahmed Junejo, Sikandar Ali Rahoupoto, Naveed Aamir Jeeva, and Riaz Fatyana, MNA besides the secretary, Ministry of Science and Technology along with their staff attended the meeting.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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