ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice on Monday considered "The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (Amendment of Article 73)", calling for amending 73(1)(A) making it binding on the government to incorporate at least 20 percent of the Senate's budget recommendations in the final budget statement that is passed by the National Assembly.

The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Senator Muhammad Javed Abbasi and was attended among others by senators Ayesha Raza Farooq, Musadik Malik, Sana Jamali, Zeeshan Khanzada, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, and movers of the bills.

The bill was introduced by senators Manzoor Ahmed, Kalsoom Parveen, Molana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Muhammad Akram, Sardar Muhammad Sahfiq Tareen, Mir Kabeer Ahmed Muhammad Shahi, Naseebullah Bazai, Muhammad Usman Khan Kakar, Ghous Muhammad Khan Niazi, Abida Muhammad Azeem, Sajjad Hussain Turi, Hilal ur Rehman, Mian Muhammad Ateeq Sheikh, Mirza Muhammad Afridi, Gul Bashra, Mushtaq Ahmed, and Muhammad Javed Abbasi.

The movers observed that over the years, senators have been working hard every year to study the budget statement and propose projects and schemes in different provinces but none of those recommendations saw the light of the day because they were not included by the government, and this situation has led up to bring the bill.

While discussing The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (Amendment of Article 140) introduced by Senator Muhammad Javed Abbasi, the mover told the committee that the intent of the bill was to give Constitutional cover to the post of advocate general of the Islamabad High Court.

The committee members supported the bill in principle but the decision on the bill was deferred till next meeting, so that input from the Ministry of Interior can also be considered.

The committee passed The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (Amendment of Article 25B) moved by Senator Sirajul Haq calling for making right to health facilities a basic fundamental right and declaring it in the Constitution.

Currently, provision to health is a principle of policy in the Constitution.

The Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2020 introduced by Senator Muhammad Javed Abbasi was also passed by committee after detailed discussion. The bill calls for omission of the words "from the provinces and other territories of Pakistan" from section 3(1).

Discussion was also held on The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (Amendment of Article 253A) introduced by Senator Mushtaq Ahmed, and The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (Amendment of Article 100) introduced by Senator Rukhsana Zuberi.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020