The promulgation of the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (Amendment) Ordinance 2019 by President Arif Alvi drew the ire of the opposition parties in the Senate on Tuesday who accused the President of violating the Constitution and staged a walkout against this move. During the Senate session presided over by Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, the senators from two mainstream opposition parties, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People's Party (PPP), as well as smaller political groups including Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) shared a unanimity in their views that President Alvi is 'habitually' issuing ordinances with disregard to the Constitution.
Speaking at the floor of the House, Leader of the Opposition in Senate and Chairman PML-N Raja Zafar-ul-Haq termed the ordinance 'unconstitutional and unjustified and against the spirit of parliamentary legislation.' "They (government) think this house is an 'ordinance factory.' Bypassing the Parliament to issue ordinances in disregard to the will of the legislature cannot be justified on any pretext. This is highly condemnable and we have decided to walk out of the house in protest of this step (by the President)," he said as joint opposition left the Senate hall.
This did not go down well with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Azam Swati. "Without listening to our stance, they (opposition) are leaving. This is highly regrettable. I can explain the government's stance but they are not ready to listen. When they (PML-N and PPP) were in government, they promulgated ordinances whenever they wished. It was okay then and it is not okay now," Swati remarked sarcastically. After the opposition senators left the House, a lack of quorum was pointed out, which prompted chairman Senate to order the Senate staff to count the members present in the House. The number of senators present in the House was found to be less than one-fourth of the total membership of the House. In the light of relevant constitutional provisions, a Senate or National Assembly session can be held only if one-fourth or 26 of its 104 members attend the session.
The House waited for five minutes for the 'missing' members to arrive but the members did not show up and the quorum remained incomplete which prompted the chairman Senate to prorogue the session.
On August 27, President Alvi promulgated the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (Amendment) Ordinance 2019 to waive half of the outstanding liabilities of fertiliser, textile, power generation and compressed natural gas (CNG) sectors. Through the ordinance, the government has waived up to Rs 208 billion that was payable to the government by some powerful industrialists of the country as their pending liabilities.
Moreover, the government presented four ordinances in the Senate during Tuesday's session; the Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority Ordinance 2019 (promulgated on May 24, 2019), the Federal Government Employees Housing Authority Ordinance 2019 (promulgated on July 15, 2019), the Pakistan Penal Code 2019 (promulgated on July 12, 2019) and the National Counter Terrorism Authority Ordinance 2019 (promulgated on July 12, 2019). "All these ordinances are in violation of the constitution. The government did not bother to legislate on these ordinances," PPP Parliamentary Leader in Senate Sherry Rehman said.
Sherry alleged that the PTI government was set to bring 11 more presidential ordinances bypassing the Parliament. "The heinous designs of the government must be foiled. Instead of bypassing the Parliament to promulgate presidential ordinances, the relevant bills should be moved in the Parliament and they should be discussed in the relevant committees."
JI chief Sirajul Haq said, "The PTI has majority that is why it is in government. Still, there is a flood of presidential ordinances. This is just unacceptable." Referring to the presidential ordinance to waive off outstanding liabilities of the industrialists, he said, "Imran Khan used to say (when he was in opposition) "Is it your father's money that you are writing off like that? Now, I ask the federal government, 'is it your father's money that you are writing off like that?'" Raza Rabbani from PPP said the President is part of the Parliament. "But by promulgating the presidential ordinance a day before the Senate session, he has attacked the dignity and sovereignty of the Parliament. This is so against the spirit of parliamentary legislation."
The present government has presented only two bills but it has promulgated 11 presidential ordinances, Rabbani added. "This is an insult to the Parliament. Why a Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (Amendment) Ordinance 2019 has not been brought to parliament? Because the government fears we would reject it. All the four ordinances presented in the Senate today should be handed an outright rejection."
Article 89 provides that an ordinance can be promulgated for 120 days but if a resolution disapproving the ordinance is passed in NA 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 the 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."
Constitutionally, an ordinance that is lapsed permanently, after being extended once, remains no more into effect and requires parliamentary legislation to become a law. Parliamentary legislation can also be done any time before an ordinance is lapsed to make it a law. Later, the House was prorogued sine die.
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