ISLAMABAD: Senate Standing Committee on Law, Justice and Human Rights on Thursday decided to defer the Constitution (amendment) Bill for further consideration which relates to promotion of regional languages.
In its meeting held under the chairmanship of Senator Javed Abbasi here at the Parliament House, the bill moved by Senator Karim Ahmed Khawaja was discussed in detail and it was decided to defer it to come up with appropriate suggestion for the constitutional amendment.
Federal minister for Law, justice and human rights Zahid Hamid gave details about Articles 28 and 251 of the Constitution which deal with languages. It was told that in order to work for preservation and promotion of any regional language of Pakistan, provincial assemblies are the relevant forums.
Senator Babar Awan pointed out that naming a few languages in the amendment and leaving others will further complicate the problem. It was agreed that while it is state’s obligation to achieve the objective the mechanism for doing the same has to be seen in detail and hence the matter shouldn’t be dealt in urgency.
It was agreed to defer the agenda till next meeting of the committee to come up with appropriate suggestion for the constitutional amendment. Chairman committee observed that committees are mini-parliaments and no legislation should go on personal likes and dislikes of one or more members.
The committee also adopted the finalised report of Committee on proposed amendments in Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority Act, 1996. The committee was told that although the Law Ministry has informally vetted the amendment bill, the bill has to be owned by the parent ministry which in this case is the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Science and Technology secretary told the committee that the bill will be sent to law division and after being vetted by the law division, it will be sent to the cabinet for approval. The committee directed the ministry to send a progress report next month and to request the cabinet to take the matter urgently.
Regarding implementation of building codes, the committee asked Pakistan Engineering Council, Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Law Division to sit together and finalise the draft of the bill within a month and address all the contradictions considering the mandate of Pakistan Engineering Council.
The meeting was attended among others by Senator Babar Awan, Senator SaeedGhani, Senator Ayesha Raza, Senator Farooq H. Naek, Senator Karim Khawaja, Senator Muhammad Ali Saif, Senator Zahida Khan, Senator Nehal Hashmi and Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid.
