The Registration (Amendment) Bill, 2010 was deferred due to objections raised by the opposition members of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the National Assembly. Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan moved the bill to further amend the Registration Act, 1908 (The Registration (Amendment) Bill, 2010 in the Lower House of the Parliament.
Deputy Speaker National Assembly Faisal Kareem Kundi deferred the Bill and asked the Minister and members of the PML-N to sit together for further deliberations on the Bill. Zahid Hamid of PML-N said while opposing the Bill that the government approved the Bill in the standing committee in their absence. He said the bill was not on the agenda of the Committee's meeting scheduled on April 14, 2010 and the language of the bill should be improved otherwise it would create problems for the masses. Nisar Bhutta said that the bill would create difficulties for documents attestation process.
Zafar Ali Shah of PPP endorsed the points of opposition members and said that the Bill should be improved. Baliguhur Rehman was of the view that the condition of attestation by the practising lawyer would further create problems and the bill should be referred to the committee concerned.
The Law Minister said that the House should be run according to the rules and procedures. He said that the Opposition did not walkout on this Bill in the Committee. He said that the Bill of four lines was pending in the committee for the last six months.The minister said the legislation was being done to prevent land grabbing by mafia. Amendment in the bill was also a longstanding demand of the bar councils, particularly the Punjab Bar Council, he added. Babar Awan said that the time-frame should be given for the amendment. Deputy Speaker Faisal Karim Kundi asked Zahid Hamid and Dr Babar Awan to sort out the matter jointly and bring back the bill into the parliament during the current session.