Joint sitting of Parliament passes eight bills including National Accountability (Amendment) Bill

The Joint sitting of Parliament took up legislative business on Monday and passed eight bills including a government bill, reported 24NewsHD.

Minister for Law and Justice Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar moved the National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2023 which was sent back to parliament by the President for reconsideration. The minister said that bill has been returned to the Parliament on the grounds that amendments brought earlier in the National Accountability Ordinance 1999 were sub-judice before the Supreme Court.

The minister said that the power and authority of the Parliament is absolute and no institution can stop the Parliament from legislation. He said that President is also part of Parliament but he does not know that the authority of Parliament is absolute and it cannot be stopped from legislation on sub-judice issues.

He said that the new law guarantees fair trial as per the constitution and it would check political engineering. The bill seeks to remove the legal complication in the transfer of cases from the Accountability Court to the relevant forums which do not fall within the jurisdiction of the NAB Ordinance.

The sitting rejected the amendments moved by the JI Senator Mushtaq Ahmed proposed in the bill.

Another bill – the Protection of Parents Bill, 2022 – was deferred on the request of the Minister for Law and Justice.

Moved by MQM lawmaker Kishwer Zehra, the House passed the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues (Amendment) Bill, 2021. PPPP Senator Quratulain Marri moved three bills including the Trained Paramedical Staff Facility Bill, 2019; the Day Care Centres Bill, 2019 and the Maternity and Paternity Leave Bill, 2020 which were passed during the sitting.

The joint sitting passed the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022 which was moved by PML-N lawmaker Kesoo Mal Kheeal Das. The bill aims to amend the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, Pakistan Penal Code, 1860, and the Qanun-e-Shahadat Order, 1984. Parliament also passed the amendments moved by MNA Mehnaz Akbar Aziz in this legislative proposal.

Moved by PML-N MNA Syed Javed Husnain moved the Limitation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 which proposed to give the right of appeal to the person awarded death penalty within 30 days. The House passed the Specific Relief (Amendment) Bill, 2022 which aims to ensure share of women and their legal heirs from inheritance. The bill was moved by PML-N MNA Syed Javed Husnain.