Islamabad: Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice considered various Bills including “The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2016” (Amendment of Article 209), “The National Commission for International Law and Commitments Bill 2016”, “The Civil Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2016” introduced by Senators Zaheer-ud-Din Babar Awan, Karim Ahmed Khawaja and Muhammad Azam Khan Swati respectively.
The Committee met at the Parliament House on Tuesday under the Chairmanship of Senator Muhammad Javed Abbasi.
The Committee deferred further consideration of “The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2016” (Amendment of Article 209), as the Senator Zaheer-ud-Din Babar Awan, the mover of the Bill, was not present during the meeting.
Besides, discussion on “The National Commission for International Law and Commitments Bill 2016” was also deferred since Senator Karim Ahmad Khawaja; the mover of the Bill was not present during the meeting.
Senator Muhammad Azam Khan Swati’s Bill “The Civil Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2016” was rejected. The Committee was of the view that adequate representation of women in judiciary is already being ensured through merit and there is no need for legislation at the moment in this regard.
The Committee deferred further consideration of the Civil Courts (Amendment) Bill 2016 on the request of the Minister for Law and Justice for a detailed feedback.
The Bill was passed by National Assembly and introduced in the Senate on October 7, 2016.
Regarding autonomy of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics and issue of representation from all four provinces, senior official of the Statistics Division informed that PBS enjoys functional autonomy as per law and that governing council has representation from all the four provinces.
The Committee while expressing satisfaction over the reply of the Statistics Division disposed off the matter under consideration.
The meeting was attended by Senators Saleem Zia, Nehal Hashmi, Miss Ayesha Raza Farooq and Ministe4r for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid.
Secretary of the Ministry Karamt Hussain Niazi and other relevant departments were also present.
