ISLAMABAD
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Irfan Siddiqui Friday wrote to the Prime Minister, calling for action to trace a bill that went missing before presidential assent.
Senator Siddiqui sent a letter to Prime Minister Anwaarul Kakar asking for action to trace the missing legislative document saying it was a “matter of Parliament’s honor and prestige.”
The Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act 2022 was unanimously passed in the Senate on May 23 and then by the National Assembly on June 8, 2022. It was then sent to PM Office to be forwarded to the President for the approval on June 21.
However, the bill went gone missing ever since it was forwarded to the president.
In his letter to the PM, Siddiqui mentioned that the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs had apprised on September 27, 2023 that “summary for assent of President to The Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was endorsed and sent to PM’s office on June 21, 2022.
“The assent of the President on the Bill is still awaited.”
It further said that the president’s office had clarified its position in a public statement saying the “Bill was never received by Awan-e-Saddar”.
The letter further said that the the PM office was “reluctant to reply and clear its position” over the issue.
Siddiqui said that the Bill remained “untraceable” in spite of several requests to various departments including the Speaker National Assembly.
