ISLAMABAD: The Secretaries Committee has asked the Ministry of Law and Justice to provide guidelines and proforma to ministries/Divisions for provision of requisite information for appropriate levels of authority to be specifically identified in each case for amendment viz the Federal Cabinet or the Prime Minister or the Federal Minister-in-Charge or the Secretary or Additional Secretary of the Division concerned.
The decision was taken at a recent meeting of Secretaries Committee presided over by Secretary Cabinet to recommend appropriate word in place of federal government to deal with less important matters.
The Secretary, Law and Justice stated that pursuant to the Supreme Court’s decision in the Mustafa Impex Case, the Federal Cabinet had directed all Ministries/ Divisions to replace the word “Federal Government” in the respective Acts/Rules, Regulations, By-Laws and other statutory instruments with “appropriate authorities” ie, “Federal Government” in statutes should be substituted with the specific authority which is considered appropriate to replace the “Federal Government” in consultation with the Law and Justice Division.
The Secretary Law explained that the rationale for this exercise was to ensure that the Federal Cabinet did not become overloaded with mundane matters. In compliance with the decision of the Federal Cabinet of September 8, 2017 Ministries/Divisions initiated the process of legislation.
The Ministries/Divisions were required to complete the process of amendments to the laws/rules within one month but the process still continues.
He added that out of 900 legal instruments, amendments in 300 had already been made or were in the pipeline and that the Federal Cabinet had also decided on October 18, 2022, to refer the matter to the Secretaries’ Committee for further deliberations, so as to ensure that the required amendments were carried out in a uniform, organized and expeditious manner.
On this exercise, the Secretary said a detailed summary had been submitted on April 04, 2023 and policy guidelines were issued. Explaining the main contours of the policy, the Secretary said that amendments in the laws/rules obligated submission of ordinary and sometimes even trivial cases to the Federal Cabinet must be prioritized.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023