Senator Irfan urges NA speaker to conduct inquiry into missing bill

ISLAMABAD: Senator Irfan Siddiqui Thursday called upon Speaker National Assembly Raja Parvaiz Ashraf for inquiry as to how a bill had gone missing when sent for presidential assent.

“This is a mockery of legislative process,” Senator Siddiqui said in a letter sent to NA speaker. The Senator asked the NA speaker to order an inquiry as to how a bill that was approved by both houses of Parliament had gone missing when sent to the president for assent. The letter also asked NA speaker to identify the culprits behind this negligence.

Senator Irfan Siddiqui said that the NA speaker still holds the constitutional position despite the fact that the assembly has been dissolved after completion of its term. “It has been 14 months that there is no clue about the whereabouts of the bill,” he said. Senator Siddiqui asked the NA speaker to once again send the bill to the president for assent. Prepared by Senator Irfan Siddiqui, the bill pertains to the separation of powers between the executive and judiciary. The bill was unanimously passed in the Senate on May 23 and then by the National Assembly on June 8, 2022 and it was then sent to PM Office to be forwarded to the President for the approval on June 21, 2022. According to the official procedure, the secretariats of the National Assembly and Senate send a bill after passage by both the houses to the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs which then sends it to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat. The Prime Minister’s Office transmits the bill to the Presidency for the assent of President. Senator Irfan Siddiqui said that he raised this issue a number of times in the Senate but the bill was not traceable. He stated in August 2022, Presidency officially clarified that no such bill had come to the President. The Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act 2022 Bill sought separation of judiciary from the executive through substitution of the special judicial magistrates with judicial magistrates designated for trails of petty crimes in summary trials.

In July 2019, it would be pertinent to mention, that Senator Siddiqui was arrested, handcuffed and put behind the bars under the Tenancy Act. The victimisation encouraged Senator Siddiqui to address lacunas in the existing laws that were enforced for more than 100 years.