A number of crucial pieces of legislation passed: Government takes the ordinance route

Amid strong protest of the opposition members, the National Assembly on Thursday passed as many as nine ordinances in the form of bills without referring them to relevant standing committees, while two other bills, including one ordinance in the form of bill, which were earlier discussed and approved by relevant standing committees, also sailed through the House.

The Lower House of the Parliament also extended another period of one hundred and twenty days of three ordinances by passing resolutions presented by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan. The government also laid "The Recovery of Mortgage Backed Security Ordinance 2019" before the House.

The Lower House of the Parliament immediately passed nine ordinances in the form of bills amid the protest of the opposition when Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Azam Khan Swati laid nine ordinances while two ordinances were laid before the House by women parliamentary secretaries of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) separately.

The nine ordinances which were approved in the form of bills are; (i) The National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2019, (ii) The Whistleblower Protection and Vigilance Commission Bill, 2019, (iii) The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) (Amendment) Bill, 2019, (iv) The Superior Courts (Court Dress and Mode of Address) Order (Repeal) Bill, 2019, (v) the Legal Aid and Justice Authority Bill, 2019, (vi) The Enforcement of Women's Property Rights Bill, 2019, (vii) The Letter of Administration and Succession Certificates Bill, 2019, (viii) The Medical Tribunal Bill, 2019, and (ix) The Pakistan Medical Commission Bill, 2019.

The National Assembly passed two bills, including one ordinance in the form of bill as reported by the relevant standing committees of the House, including "The Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and The Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority Bill, 2019"

The Lower House of the Parliament extended the another period of one hundred and twenty days for three ordinances. They were: (i) The Federal Government Employees Housing Authority Ordinance, 2019, (ii) The National Counter Terrorism Authority (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019 and (iii) The Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019.

The government also introduced as many as four bills in the National Assembly and these are; (i) The Anti-terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2019, (ii) The National Highway Safety (Amendment) Bill, 2019, (iii) The Islamabad Capital Territory Senior Citizens Bill, 2019, and (iv) The Constitutional (Amendment) Bill, 2019.

The opposition members strongly protested against the passage of ordinances in the form of bills which were neither discussed in the House nor in the relevant standing committees of the National Assembly. They gathered around the dais of the deputy speaker and raised slogans against the government and threw up the papers of agenda and ordinances. They asked Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri, who chaired the House, to give floor for debating the ordinances and bills but he did not pay any attention to them and continued the legislation process.

According to The National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2019, "Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any other law or any instruction, etc, for the time being force, any person arrested under the provisions of this law for any offence involving any amount above fifty million rupees shall be entitled to 'C' class or equivalent only in the prison irrespective of the stage of inquiry, investigation or trial."

According to The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) (Amendment) Bill, 2019, "whistleblower" includes a person, entity, or an agency who files a complaint under any law for the time being in force or otherwise gives information under this Act, with regard to the existence of any property held as Benami relating to the commission of offences."

According to objects and reasons of The Whistleblower Protection and Vigilance Commission Bill, 2019, "This legislation is designed to establish Whistleblower Protection and Vigilance Commission in order to provide a mechanism for whistleblower information relating to corruption and to protect whistleblowers from disadvantageous measures such as removal from office, disciplinary action and intimidation etc. In order to give incentive to whistleblowers the proposed legislation provides rewards but to discourage false information, it also provides punishment for them."

The objectives of The Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority Bill, 2019 include; the Authority shall (i) identify immovable properties and projects suitable for the development of schemes, (ii) recommend to the federal government to provide or procure immovable property or a project through any means permissible under law, (iii) prescribe transparent criteria and procedure for registration, membership, possession, transfer and cancellation of immovable property in a scheme, and (iv) facilitate the low-income segment for availing housing.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019