Bills on elections, national accountability: Joint-sitting of parliament extended to table two bills

ISLAMABAD: The federal government extended a joint-sitting of the Parliament from June 7 to June 9 to table two bills, the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and the National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2022, for passage as the president returned them back to the prime minister after raising objections on them.

According to the sources, a joint sitting of the Parliament was summoned on June 7 for presenting and passage of the bills but the Senate and the National Assembly secretariats were not received these bills till June 7.

They said that for this purpose, the joint-sitting was extended from June 7 to 9. When some other sources were contacted, they said that the bills were finally passed by the Senate, so it will receive the bills but the Senate had not received the bills so far. They said that the President has a 10-day period in which to approve or disapprove a bill. They said that the Senate may receive these bills today (Wednesday).

Answering a question, the sources said that a joint sitting may continue for two to three days for the passage of other bills. They said that the bills which are not passed within 90 days or made some amendments in them but not approved by the National Assembly will be presented in the joint sitting of the Parliament for passage under the 18th Constitutional Amendment.

The sources said that bills including Parents Protection Bill, 2022, Information and Technology Bill, 2022, Pak University Emerging Technology Bill, 2022, Nursing Council Bill, 2022, Public Procurement Bill, 2022, Security and Exchange Commission Bill, 2022, National Safety Certificate Bill, 2022, Government Savings Bank (Amendment) Bill, 2022, Climate Change Bill, 2022, and Commercial Prosperities Bill, 2022 would be present in the joint sitting of the Parliament for passage.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022