National Assembly passes 'Privatisation Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2009'

The National Assembly Tuesday passed "The Privatisation Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2009" and gave representations to four members of the Parliament on the board of commission. Dr Donya Aziz of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) tabled the Bill in the Lower House of the Parliament with an amendment on private members day. Federal Minister for Privatisation Senator Waqar Ahmed Khan did not oppose the amendment presented by Gonya Aziz.
She proposed amendment in clause 2 in sub-section (1) of the Bill. According to the amendment, "for the word 'eight' the word 'sixteen' shall be substituted and for the word 'twelve' the word 'twenty' shall be substituted. Now the Board shall consist of the Chairman, the Secretary and a minimum of sixteen and maximum of twenty nominated members as determined by the federal government.
According to the Bill, there shall be at all times two members of the National Assembly and two members of the Senate of Pakistan on the board of the Commission, who shall be nominated by the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Chairman Senate, respectively. The tenure of the nominated members of the National Assembly on the Commission shall be for the term of the National Assembly. The tenure of the nominated members of the Senate shall be three years.
"One member shall be from the treasury benches and one from the opposition benches." After passage of the Bill, Federal Minister for Privatisation Waqar Ahmed Khan said that it is a positive step of the government which believes in the transparency of privatisation process and input of both houses, National Assembly and Senate.