NA body approves bill for one seat to Islamabad against women quota in NA

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice on Tuesday disapproved three bills referred to it for detailed consideration, but approved a Constitutional amendment bill seeking to allocate one female seat to Islamabad against reserved quota in the National Assembly.

During the meeting of the committee held under the Chairmanship of MNA Riaz Fatyana, five bills were tabled for consideration. The committee rejected three bills while one bill each was approved and deferred.

The committee considered a government bill, the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Amendment in Article 51), seeking enhancement of women seats from 60 to 61 and to allocate this female seat for Islamabad Capital Territory. After detailed deliberations, the committee unanimously recommended that the bill may be passed by the assembly.

The committee considered another bill “the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2018 (Amendment in Article 51 and 106)" moved by MNA Naveed Aamir Jeeva. The Committee deferred the bill till its next meeting due to non-availability of mover and recommended that the chairman NADRA and secretary, Statistics Division shall attend the next meeting along with data related to this bill.

The committee considered “the Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2019” moved by MNA Ms Aliya Kamran and unanimously recommended that the bill may not be passed by the assembly. It recommended that the Ministry of Law and Justice shall seek opinion or proposals from all the bar councils regarding improvements with respect to qualifications and procedure for the appointment of judges of Supreme Court of Pakistan and all high courts.

It was further recommended that the Ministry of Law and Justice shall prepare and present a working paper before the committee on the given issue in its next meeting.

Another bill, the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2018 (Amendment in Article 37), moved MNA Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani was also considered and it was agreed that bill may not be passed by the National Assembly.

However MNA Khawaja Saad Rafiq, member of the Standing Committee, submitted his note of dissent against this decision of disapproving the bill.

The committee considered another bill, the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2018 (Amendment in Article 25B, 51, 63B, 92 and 106), moved by MNA Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani. After detailed deliberations, the committee recommended that the amendments in Articles, 25B, 63B, and 92 of the bill may not be passed by the Assembly; however, the amendments in Articles 51and 106 were deferred till next meeting.

The meeting was attended besides others MNAs Atta Ullah, Lal Chand, Muhammad Farooq Azam Malik, Ms Maleeka Ali Bokhari, Muhammad Sana Ullah Khan Masti Khel, Sher Ali Arbab, Ms Shunila Ruth, Rana Sana Ullah Khan, Ch Mehmood Bashir Virk, Usman Ibraheem, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Saad Waseem, Ms Aliya Kamran and Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani.