ISLAMABAD: The upper house of the parliament, Monday, passed by majority vote the State Bank of Pakistan Amendment Bill 2021, a private-member bill that seeks to ensure that the “minimum credit/ lending of the commercial banks to the private sector for establishing industry and commercial activities in the smaller provinces is at par with those provinces’ total deposits in the banks.”
In the Senate sitting presided over by Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, Mohsin Aziz from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) put up the bill for passage.
He informed the house that bill was passed by the relevant Senate committee and urged the house to pass the bill.
However, following opposition from treasury, the chair directed to hold voice vote on the bill. As many as 26 votes were found to be in favour of the bill and 20 votes against it—leading to the bill’s passage.
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“The private sector of smaller provinces of the country especially Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had a longstanding demand to eliminate improper, unjustified and inequitable credit/ lending by the commercial banks in their provinces which is leading to continuous deprivation, disparity and slow progress of industrialisation and commercial activities in those provinces,” according to the statement of objects and reasons of the bill.
The Senate Standing Committee on Finance, in its report laid in the Senate on March 10, 2021, observed that commercial banks cannot be forced to extend loans unless a law exists that demands the same; hence, recommended to bring legislation in this regard, the statement says.
Moreover, the Senate of Pakistan on May 31, 2021, also unanimously passed a resolution demanding immediate and result oriented steps including introduction of new legislation or amending the present laws/ rules/ regulations to ensure that the minimum credit/ lending of the commercial banks to the private sector for establishing industry and commercial activities in the smaller provinces is at par with those provinces’ total deposits in the banks, reads the statement of objects and reasons.
“Hence, the bill seeks to achieve the above said purposes,” it concludes.
Meanwhile, different private-member bills were moved in the house including the Code of Criminal Procedure Amendment Bill 2022, Constitution Amendment Bill 2022 (Amendment of Article 203D of the constitution), Constitution Amendment Bill 2022 (Amendment of Article 19 of the constitution), Copyright Amendment Bill 2022, Elections Amendment Bill 2022, Federal Investigation Agency Amendment Bill 2022, International Islamic University Amendment Bill 2022, Criminal Laws Amendment Bill 2022, Easements Amendment Bill 2022, Prohibition (Enforcement of Hadd) Order Amendment Bill 2022, Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority Amendment Bill 2022, Criminal Laws Amendment Bill 2022 and Harbour Institute of Management, Sciences and Technology Bill 2022. The Senate was adjourned till today (Tuesday).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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