ISLAMABAD: The upper house of the parliament on Friday passed the Capital Development Authority (Amendment) Bill 2022, a government bill related to the appointment of the chairman and members of CDA, and the civic agency’s engagements with the private sector.

In the house sitting, Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani allowed the bill to be put up for passage without referring it to the relevant standing committee.

The bill was originally moved by Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah but presented in the house by State Law Minister Shahadat Awan in the absence of the interior minister. It has already been passed by the National Assembly.

The Capital Development Authority (Amendment) Bill 2022 seeks amendments to the CDA Ordinance 1960.

According to the bill’s statement of objects and reasons, the Islamabad High Court (IHC), in one of its judgments in December 2017, set aside the notification for the appointment of Sheikh Anser Aziz, the then Mayor of the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI), as Member of CDA board, with additional functions of the chairman CDA.

The IHC further directed the federal government to initiate the process for selection of an eligible person to be appointed as member of the CDA Board for the fixed term specified under CDA Ordinance 1960 and appoint a chairman for a fixed period of five years from among the CDA Board members within 45 days from the date of the announcement of judgment, states the statement of objects and reasons.

In order to elaborate the procedure for the appointment of chairman and members in CDA, it was decided to amend the relevant sections of the CDA Ordinance 1960.

Accordingly, the president of Pakistan promulgated the Capital Development Authority (Amendment) Ordinance 2018 in January 2018 for a period of 120 days which was further extended for another period of 120 days by the NA as per the laid down procedure. The previous NA could not pass the said amendment in CDA Ordinance 1960 till the completion of its tenure in May 2018.

The federal government proposed certain amendments in the criteria for the appointment of chairman and board members through CDA (Amendment) Ordinance 2018 which was subsequently extended for another term of 120 days by NA.

The statement of objects and reasons states that the purpose of amendment of these sections in CDA Ordinance 1960 is to comply with IHC.

Recently, it says, the federal government decided the re-structuring of CDA Board and notification in this regard was issued by Cabinet Division.

Therefore, the amendments have become inevitable and have been proposed in the light of the Cabinet Division’s notification.

Apart from that, the Capital Development Authority (Amendment) Bill 2022 also seeks relevant amendments in CDA Ordinance 1960 which shall enable CDA to enter into agreement with private entities for the provision of infrastructure facilities, management functions and/or services “with a clear allocation of risks and benefits between the two parties. This will lessen the financial burden on CDA/government and will enhance development activities of CDA in ICT (Islamabad Capital Territory).”

Meanwhile, the treasury senators including Asif Kirmani from Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and Tahir Bizinjo from National Party (NP) criticised the federal government in Senate over the fuel crisis.

Bizinjo questioned why the generals and judges were exempted from declaring their assets when the bureaucrats were required to declare their assets on the pressure of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The house was adjourned till Monday.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023

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