Punjab Cabinet panel approves legal amendments

LAHORE: Provincial Minister for Law and Cooperatives Raja Basharat chaired the 52nd meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Legislative Business at Civil Secretariat.

Provincial Minister for Higher Education Raja Yasir Humayun and the secretaries of relevant departments also participated in the meeting which discussed 20 agenda items of various departments while approving several legal amendments and drafts.

Among the proposals approved by the cabinet committee were the proposal for transfer of process of issuance of arms licences in Punjab to deputy commissioners, increase in fine of e-challan and introduction of penalty points system, procedure for cancelling and restoring driving licence for repeated violation of traffic rules, change of Lahore Transport Company into Punjab Transport Authority and extending its scope to the whole province, inspection of private vehicles and issuance of fitness certificate, signing of agreement for spreading solar drip and sprinkler irrigation system in the province, numerous amendments to the Punjab Fisheries Ordinance 1961 for promotion of the fish breeding system, nomination of Finance Secretary Iftikhar Saho as director, Bank of Punjab, amendment to the Punjab Pension and GP Fund Act and transfer of powers for property tax on luxury homes as appellate authority to divisional directors. There was proposal for changing Model Bazaar Company into Punjab Sahulat Bazaar Authority.

The committee deferred the proposal for Punjab Free and Compulsory Education Amendment Bill 2020 for further consideration while the draft of Punjab Sikh Marriage Amended Act 2021 was referred to the sub-committee for further consideration. The meeting also endorsed the proceedings of the previous meeting.