1,198 presidential ordinances issued in last three decades: Parliamentary committee informed

As many as 1,198 presidential ordinances have been issued by the political governments and General Pervez Musharraf (retd) in last three decades, a parliamentary committee was informed on Friday.

A case to make further stringent the conditions for promulgation of ordinances by the President of Pakistan in term of Article 89 of the Constitution of Pakistan was discussed in a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs. Pervaiz Rashid chaired the meeting of the committee.

The committee was informed that number of presidential ordinances was reduced after promulgation of 18th Constitutional Amendment as 120 presidential ordinances were issued from 2010 to 2019. The data shared with committee reveals that 137 ordinances were promulgated in the year 2002 which was the highest number in last 31 years, followed by 133 ordinances promulgated in the year 1995, and the year 1996 was third with promulgation of 125 ordinances.

"It means, on average 38.6 ordinances were passed per year but in reality the average does not depict the true picture," said former senator Farhatullah Babar, a special invitee,.

The former senator asked the chairman committee to carry out a study on the trend of ordinances promulgated in Pakistan since 1989, delay in laying these ordinances in Parliament and beneficiaries of these ordinances.

In a case study, he suggested the National Command Authority (Amendment) Ordinance 2016, which was laid before the Senate with a delay of 92 days and its rules were not shared with the Parliament in four years.

He further said that committee should recommend the chairman Senate that in future the House shall adhere to the Constitution and Rules framed therein, while lying an ordinance in term of Article 89 of the Constitution;

i) An Ordinance shall be laid on the first day of the sitting of the both Houses held after the promulgation of the said ordinance on which formal government business is to be transacted.

ii) The government shall lay along with the ordinance reasons that necessitated the President to promulgate the ordinance.

iii) The House can condone the delay in laying the said Ordinance; however, such delay shall not be more than 10 days for which reasons for delay of each day in laying the ordinance shall be explained by the minister concerned in the House.

He further said that then chairman Senate gave a ruling on July 25, 2016 on the matter of promulgation of ordinance which should be strictly observed.

He said that the trend of promulgation of ordinances was obvious from the fact that successive government had frequently resorted to ordinances as a convenient tool of legislation without any prior parliamentary scrutiny. "In many cases, ordinances have been promulgated just hours before a house of Parliament is to meet indicating that normal parliamentary route of legislation could have been easily utilized," he added.

He further said the names of beneficiaries should be made public who enjoyed immunity during the duration of promulgation of ordinance till becoming Act of Parliament and indemnity by the Parliament to these ordinances during military dictatorships.

Member Committee Walid Iqbal endorsed the viewpoint of the former senator. He said the large scale promulgation of ordinances in the past shows that ruling parties did not have majority in the Upper House and feared that the government's bills would not defeated. He further asked the chairman committee to probe an immunity given by the government of General Ziaul Haq to Ghulam Mustafa Khar in 1989.

He further suggested the former senator to participate in the three-member committee constituted by Islamabad High Court (IHC) to review the procedures of promulgation of ordinance. He further suggested that a constitutional amendment would be needed to bring some amendments in the procedures of promulgation of ordinances.