ISLAMABAD, May 23 (APP): The National Assembly on Tuesday witnessed the introduction of a private member’s bill which aimed at the continuation of the legislative proposals after the completion of the term of the Assembly in case their movers (Members-in-charges) are re-elected for next tenure.
The bill – the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2023] (Amendment in Article 76) – was moved by a PML-N lawmaker Syed Javed Husnain which was referred to the relevant committee for further consideration.
MNA Syed Javed Husnain elaborated about the bill and said that private members’ bills, if not passed, get lapsed after the completion of the term of the Assembly.
He said it has been proposed that bills of those private lawmakers should not get lapsed if they are re-elected in general elections for the next term of the National Assembly.
The bill sought amendment in clause (3) of Article 76 and the proposed amendment states that if the Member-in-charge of a Bill is elected again to the National Assembly, his Bill which was passed by the previous National Assembly and pending in the Senate, shall not be deemed to have been lapsed on the dissolution of that Assembly.
MNA Syed Javed Husnain said that private members move the bills in the House after great effort but their bills get lapsed after completion of the term of the House.
He said that one of his bills has been pending with Standing Committee on Finance for the last three years while he was called for five times in Standing Committee on Interior with reference to his other bill but it remained pending there.
He said that private lawmakers normally don’t have the required strength to ensure constitutional amendment and the purpose of introducing such bills is to intimate the Ministry of Law and Justice and other ministries about reforms in the relevant laws.
The statement of objects and reasons of the bill states “Parliamentarians, after several efforts, present the draft laws in Assembly and work hard to get them passed, which takes years. If suddenly, the Assembly is dissolved or completes its constitutional terms, all the above drafts become invalid and the member in charge, if elected again, starts the whole business of initiating the above-said draft laws from ground zero and it takes a considerable amount of time. Mostly, such kind of drafts which are in the best interest of the people do not take the shape of law. Therefore, it is necessary to amend the Article-76 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan”.
