Joint session passes NAB bill returned by president

ISLAMABAD: The joint sitting of Parliament passed eight bills including the National Accountability Bill, 2023 on Monday.

Minister for Law and Justice Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar moved the National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which was sent back to the parliament by the President for reconsideration under Article 75 (2) of the Constitution.

The bill would now be presented to the President and would deem to have taken effect as an Act of Parliament if it was not signed by the President within 10 days.

However, the joint sitting rejected three amendments, moved by Jamaat-e-Islami’s Senator Mushtaq Ahmed, for incorporation in the bill.

The JI parliamentarian, through an amendment, wanted that the clause that the National Accountability Bill, 2023 shall deem to have taken effect from the commencement of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 should be omitted.

The House also rejected an amendment, in which Senator Mushtaq proposed that no senior officer or deputy chairman could be appointed to act as the NAB chairman in his absence.

The law minister said that bill was returned to the Parliament on the grounds that amendments brought earlier to the National Accountability Ordinance 1999 were sub-judice before the Supreme Court.

He said the power and authority of the Parliament was absolute and no institution could stop it from legislation. He said the President was also part of Parliament, but he did not know that the authority of Parliament was absolute, and it could not be stopped from legislation on sub-judice issues.

He said the new law guaranteed fair trial as per the constitution and it would check political engineering, saying the dictator’s NAB law was used for the victimisation of political victims and the same was also declared as black law by courts.

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 joint session also passed seven other bills which were passed by the National Assembly and not passed by the Senate within 90 days.

Moved by MQM lawmaker Kishwer Zehra, the House passed the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues (Amendment) Bill, 2021. PPP Senator Qurratulain 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 PMLN lawmaker Kesoo Mal Kheeal Das. The bill aims to amend the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, of 2016, the Pakistan Penal Code, of 1860, and the Qanun-e-Shahadat Order, of 1984. Parliament also passed the amendments moved by MNA Mehnaz Akbar Aziz in this legislative proposal.

Syed Javed Husnain of PMLN moved the Limitation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 which was passed by the sitting. It proposed to give the right of appeal to the person awarded the death penalty within 30 days.

The House passed the Specific Relief (Amendment) Bill, 2022 which aims to ensure the share of women and their legal heirs from inheritance. The bill was also moved by Syed Javed Husnain. Another bill – the Protection of Parents Bill, 2022 – was deferred at the request of the Minister for Law and Justice.