Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan tabled two bills, 'Punjab Local Government (Amendment) Bill 2010 and 'The Punjab Educational and Vocational Training Authority Bill' which were forwarded to the concerned standing committee by Speaker Rana Muhammed Iqbal for vetting here on Thursday. A number of committees including health and PSE-2 got approval of time from the House on the occasion.
The session in deliberations showed deepest concern on the law and order situation in the province saying that only urgent cases were being heard and regular cases were pending in the courts due to dearth of judges in the higher courts. Saeed Akhtar Niwani said that these vacancies should be filled as soon as possible.
Sanaullah averred that in the light of Supreme Court decision the advice of Chief Minister was necessary for the appointment of judges. He said on December 8, 2009, Chief Minister Punjab received a list with 28 names for appointment of judges and sent it with notes to the Governor of Punjab. He dilated that presently he was unaware of the status of the summary.
In the session opposition member Mohsin Laghari said that conduct of Chief Justice and the Governor could not be discussed in the house. Chair Rana Mushood mention rule 37, sub section 4 of Punjab Assembly under which important issues could be put before the house and debated. A legislator on the point said that there were vacancies of 60 judges in the high court where 25 judges were administering justice at present.
Senior Minister Raja Riaz on the occasion said that house recommendation regarding appointment would be put before the federal government. In the pre-budget debate, an MPA spoke of depletion in forests in the country and said that more forests would be better for environment and steps should be taken in that direction, he stressed.
Another MPA said that farmers should be given easy loans and subsidies on urea, tractor and seeds. Two call attention notices presented by Khawja Muhammad Aslam and Chaudhry Zaheer-u-Din regarding a burglary and kidnapping were disposed off with promise of respite in the cases by the law minister. The house was adjourned to 9am Friday (today) by the Chair.