The Senate on Monday witnessed introduction of eight private members’ bills and passage of three resolutions after voting on them.
Eight bills introduced in the House were the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Islamabad Capital Territory Law Officers Bill, 2020; the Press Council of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Islamabad Capital Territory Criminal Prosecution Service (Constitution, Functions and Powers) Bill, 2020; the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (Amendment of Article 73); the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (Amendment of Article 140) and the Islamabad Wildlife (Protection, Preservation, Conservation and Management) (Amendment) Bill, 2020. All these bills were referred to the relevant committees for deliberations.
The House passed the Dyslexia Special Measures Bill, 2020 after voting. It was moved by an Independent Senator Abida Azeem.
The House rejected a motion to introduce the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (Amendment of Article 160) with majority vote. Seventeen lawmakers voted in favor of the motion while 25 Senators opposed it. The bill sought amendment in clause (3A) of Article 160 and suggested that NFC shall take into consideration the requirements and liabilities of the Federation and all or any other Provinces and make variations accordingly at the time of computation of the share of the provinces in each award.
Two bills including the Muslim Family Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020] (Amendment of Article 100) were deferred due to the absence of the Senator Engr. Rukhsana Zuberi who sponsored these bills.
A bill – the Islamabad Court Fees Bill, 2020 – was withdrawn by its mover, Sherry Rehman. Another bill – the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Amendment of Article 106) – was deferred which demanded to increase number of seats of Balochistan Assembly from 65 to 80.
The Chair also deferred the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Amendment of Article 198) after the consent of the mover. The bill was about creating more benches of high courts in various districts for early disposal of cases.
The Chair referred two resolutions to the relevant committees after consent of their movers. These resolutions demanded to introduce uniform pay scale for all the Federal and Provincial Government employees especially from BS-1 to BS-16 and increase the pension being granted to retired and old aged workers by the Employees Old-Age Benefit Institution.
The House passed three resolutions demanding the federal government to utilize the maximum funds for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19 pandemic and for the assistance and rehabilitation of the poor affected by the lockdown, help out labourers and workers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa stranded in the Gulf countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic and take steps for insurance of major crops in the country against natural calamity and disaster.
Earlier, the Chairman, Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs Senator Farooq Hamid Naek presented reports on the Tax Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and the COVID-19 (Prevention of Smuggling) Bill, 2020 which were considered and adopted by the House following motions under Rule 130 (8).
