Govt plans to revive some ordinances
ISLAMABAD: Just days before the deadline of Nov 28 set by the Supreme Court in its July 31 verdict regarding parliamentary action on 37 ordinances issued by former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf, the government appears to have decided to re-promulgate some of them.
‘The president under Article 89 can re-promulgate any ordinance expiring on Nov 28, if need be,’ Parliamentary Affairs Minister Babar Awan told Dawn on Sunday.
While declaring the Nov 3, 2007, emergency imposed by the then president and army chief Gen Pervez Musharraf as illegal and unconstitutional, the Supreme Court in its verdict had set a 120-day deadline for the government to decide the fate of 37 ordinances, but a public debate remained focussed only on the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO). The NRO was among those 29 ordinances which were promulgated by the former military ruler before Nov 3, but remained in force during the 43-day emergency period.
The government managed to lay 31 ordinances before the National Assembly, but failed to get even one of them approved despite the fact that the assembly remained in session for 46 days between Aug 3 and Nov 16.
The only law for which the government did make a serious effort was the NRO that was tabled in the National Assembly on Oct 16. The government had got it hastily approved in the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Law and Justice. However, later it had to withdraw the NRO after vociferous protests by the opposition and the decision of all its major coalition partners not to support it.
The parliamentary affairs minister blamed the standing committees for the government’s failure in this regard. ‘I have time and again asked the standing committees to expedite legislative business, but to no avail,’ he said. However, he claimed that some of the ordinances were intentionally not taken to parliament.
Mr Awan was of the view that the government had simply complied with the Supreme Court decision by presenting the ordinances before parliament. He said it was a prerogative of parliament to approve or reject a law.
The government did not make an attempt to get those ordinances approved which were non-controversial in nature. Besides the NRO, the ordinances which will lapse on Nov 28 include the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (Erra) Ordinance; the National Commission for Human Development Ordinance; the National Defence University Ordinance; the Institute of Space Technology Ordinance; the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) Ordinance and the National Disaster Management Ordinance.
The following ordinances were laid before parliament:
The Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority Ordinance; The Code of Criminal Procedure (Second Amdt) Ordinance; The National Commission for Human Development (Amdt) Ordinance; The Arbitration (International Investment Dispute) Ordinance; Pakistan Institute of Development Economics Ordinance; The National Defence University Ordinance; The Police Order (Amendment) Ordinance; The Institute of Space Technology Ordinance; The Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Ordinance; The Patents (Second Amendment) Ordinance; The Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance; The Federal Public Service Commission (Amendment) Ordinance; The National Database and Registration Authority (Second Amendment) Ordinance; The Industrial Development Bank of Pakistan (Re-Organisation and Conversion) Ordinance; The Pakistan Engineering Council (Second Amendment) Ordinance; The Intellectual Property Organisation of Pakistan Ordinance; The Defence Housing Authority Islamabad Ordinance; The Competition Ordinance; The National Disaster Management Ordinance; The Trade Development Authority of Pakistan Ordinance; The Islamabad Capital Development Territory Private Educational Institution (Regulation and Promotion) Ordinance; The West Pakistan Regulation and Control Loudspeaker and Sound Amplifier (Amdt) Ordinance; The Recognition and Enforcement (Arbitration Agreement and Foreign Arbitral Awards) Ordinance; The Pakistan Penal Code (Third Amdt) Ordinance; The National Reconciliation Ordinance (later withdrawn); The National School of Public Policy (Second Amdt) Ordinance; The Pakistan Energy Commission (Amdt) Ordinance; The Islamabad Consumers Protection (Amdt) Ordinance; The Price Control and Prevention of Profiteering and Hoarding (Amdt) Ordinance; National Command Authority Ordinance and Trade Organisations Ordinance.
The following ordinances were not laid before parliament:
The Alternative Energy Development Board Ordinance; The Legal Practitioners & Bar Council (Amdt) Ordinance; The Dawood College of Engineering and Technology Karachi Ordinance; The Press, Newspaper, News Agencies and Book Registration (Amdt) Ordinance; The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Third Amdt) Ordinance and The Pakistan Army (Amdt) Ordinance.
