The Federal Cabinet has decided to place Constituency Delimitations Bill, 2017 before National Assembly for debate and consideration following a briefing by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on sixth population census.
The meeting of the federal cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Wednesday was given a presentation on Census 2017. The Election Commission has also expressed concern that if a constitutional amendment for delimitation is not passed, the next general elections may face delay.
The sources said that as soon as possible, the bill would be introduced in parliament to discuss and decide whether the seats of national and provincial assemblies, could be increased or not based on the increase in population. They said that we have very limited time because the delimitation exercise has to be taken five months before the upcoming general elections.
Imam-e-Ka'aba Dr Saleh Bin Humaid was invited to the opening session of the Cabinet meeting on special invitation and before the start of formal proceedings, the Imam-e-Ka'aba expressed gratitude to the Prime Minister for inviting him to address the Cabinet. In his remarks, he stated Pakistan and Saudi Arabia share historical and strong brotherly bonds. He also conveyed good wishes to the Cabinet and the people of Pakistan on behalf of the Custodian of the two Holy Mosques, Crown Prince, religious scholars and the people of Saudi Arabia and stated that success lies in unity and the best decisions are made for the benefit of the people.
When the cabinet resumed formal proceedings, the meeting ratified recommendations of the Cabinet Committee for disposal of legislative cases in its meeting held on 16-10-2017 and approved establishment of a Drug Court at Quetta and appointment of Justice Aftab Ahmed Gorar as Judge Special Appellate Court under Section 46(1) of the Prevention of Smuggling Act, 1977 in the Province of Sindh.
The cabinet meeting also approved appointment of Secretary Ministry of Information Technology & Telecommunication as Chairman of Management Board of National Telecom-munication Corporation and gave its concurrence to the re-constitution of the Board of Governors of Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC).
The Cabinet accorded ex-post facto approval to initiate negotiations and for signing of an agreement on scientific exchange and co-operation between Pakistan Agriculture Research Council and Lanzhou University China.
The meeting also approved amendments in the rules of origin (ROO) under Malaysia-Pakistan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (MPCEPA) and signing of MoU between the government of Mozambique and Pakistan in defence domain.
The Cabinet accorded approval to sign a convention for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income between Pakistan and Republic of Bulgaria. The Cabinet also approved extension in the deputation period of Bebu Ram, Deputy Chief Engineer Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL), Karachi.