‘The Protection of Family Life & Wedlock Bill’: Senate body concerned at delay in sending ‘legislation’ to Alvi

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs expressed serious concern over the delay in sending “The Protection of Family Life and Wedlock Bill, 2023” to the President.

The Committee also called the Law Ministry, Establishment Division, and other stakeholders in the next meeting to discuss the legal aspects of the procedure for sending a bill to the President of Pakistan after approval from both houses of the Parliament.

The Committee met with Senator Taj Haider in the chair at Parliament House on Friday.

The meeting was attended by Senator Kamran Murtaza, Senator Abida Muhammad Azeem, Senator Walid Iqbal, Federal Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Information and Broadcasting Murtaza Solangi, the Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, and senior officials from the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.

According to the Article-75 of the Constitution, “President’s assent to bills (1) When a Bill is presented to the President for assent, the President shall, within 10 days: (a) assent to the Bill; or (b) in the case of a Bill other than a Money Bill, return the Bill to the Parliament with a message requesting that the Bill, or any specified provision thereof, be reconsidered and that any amendment specified in the message be considered.”

The committee engaged in a detailed discussion on the public petition regarding the status of “The Protection of Family Life and Wedlock Bill, 2023.” Various aspects of the proposed legislation were thoroughly examined with committee members actively participating in the deliberations.

The chairman of the committee emphasised the distress that families face when spouses are posted in different cities, noting that this situation instils fractures in family institutions. Three petitioners pleaded their cases, asserting that they and their families have been adversely affected by deportation for the past 25-30 years.

The committee assured the petitioners that both Houses of Parliament empathised with the issue. He further mentioned that in pursuance of Article 75 of the Constitution, the status of said bill should have been cleared after its passage from both Houses of Parliament.

Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Solangi also outlined the timeline of the bill, from its passage in the Parliament to its submission to the President, wherein, it was also stated that the bill was not assented to and has now been returned by the President to the Parliament for reconsideration under Article 75(1)(b) of the Constitution.

The minister said the National Assembly passed the Bill on July 27, 2023 and transmitted to the Senate on July 30, 2023. He said the Bill was sent to the President through Prime Minister’s Office for assent on August 8, 2023. He said the Prime Minister’s Office on September 4, 2023 directed the Law and Justice Division to examine Laws, Rules and Court Judgments before the advice is rendered to the President. He said the Law Ministry informed that at this stage Law Division is unable to offer any comments and advices that the subject Bill in terms of Article 75 of the Constitution be presented to the President who may within 10 days either assent to the subject Bill or may return the same to the Parliament for reconsideration.

The minister said the Prime Minister’s Office again requested the Establishment Division and Law and Justice Division to examine the instant bill and furnish their views/comments on the inconsistencies viz Constitution of Pakistan and specific Laws i.e. Civil Servants Act 1973 before the advice is rendered to the President. He said the Ministry of Law and Justice in his comments stated that after obtaining views/comments of the Establishment Division, the President may be advised to return the Bill to the Parliament for reconsideration.

During the meeting, committee members extensively discussed the matter, taking Article 75 of the Constitution, the Rules of Business, 1973, and the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate, 2012 into consideration regarding the procedure currently adopted for forwarding Bills to the President for Assent.

Senator Kamran Murtaza advised the Committee to involve the legal team in the next meeting to discuss the said Rules and scrutinise the matter for any violations. Senator Walid Iqbal, in agreement with Senator Kamran Murtaza, added that the Bill was not missing but was in the process in different divisions.

Senator Taj Haider, the chairman of the committee, concluded the meeting by emphasizing that the intention is not to further delay the matter regarding the passage of “The Protection of Family Life and Wedlock Bill, 2023”, which might be taken into reconsideration in a Joint Sitting of both Houses of Parliament, but to identity and rectify the reasons causing the procedural delay.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024