ISLAMABAD: The Senate of Pakistan, on Monday, unanimously, passed six private members’ bills. In a significant legislative development, the Senate, unanimously, passed six private members’ bills, reflecting cross-party support on key issues.
The Lower House passed six bills: the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2023; the Pakistan Council for Science and Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2023; the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024; the Higher Education Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2024; the Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (Amendment) Bill, 2024; and the Islamabad Capital Territory Prohibition on Employment of Children Bill, 2022.
The house also introduced “The Fatima University of Science and Technology Bill, 2025.” The chair referred the bill to the relevant Standing Committee of the House.
Senator Sarmad Ali withdrew his two bills; “The Social Media (Age-Restricted Users) Bill, 2025” and “The Islamabad Capital; Territory Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill, 2021” through motion under Rule 115.
The Senate deferred three bills on the request of the movers. These were “The Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (seeking amendment to Section 377 of PPC)”, “The Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Bill, 2024”, and “the Mental Health (Amendment) Bill, 2025”.
The object and reasons of The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2023, states: “The amendment is proposed to prescribe qualification for private members, with an aim to ensure competence and effective management of the affairs and responsibilities of the Board, as well as, Public Procurement Regulatory Authority.”
The Clause four of the bill says, “(4A) The Members referred to in entry (7) of sub-section (2), shall be the persons of Integrity, possessing qualifications, and at least fifteen years’ experience in public administration, economics, legal matters, finance, engineering or related technical fields.”
The purpose of “The Pakistan Council for Science and Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2023” aims at prescribing the provision regarding oversight of Parliament upon working of the Council by submission of annual report in the both the Houses.
According to clause two, “The Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024,” “Rape, molestation or sexual intercourse of any kind to any human corpse. - Whoever commits rape, molestation or sexual intercourse of any kind to any human corpse shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than fourteen years and fine which may extend to one million rupees but not less than five hundred thousand rupees.”
The Higher Education Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2024 aims at prescribing the provision regarding oversight of Parliament upon working of the Commission by submission of annual report in both the Houses.
The purpose of “The Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (Amendment) Bill, 2024”to include seven non-official members to be appointed by the federal government one each from the provinces, Islamabad Capital Territory, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
The object and reasons of “The Islamabad Capital Territory Prohibition on Employment of Children Bill, 2022”, states “Child labour is rampant in Islamabad Capital Territory.
The children engaged in child labour are deprived of the pleasures of life. Most of these children are unaware of their basic rights as citizens of Pakistan and their access to education is also very limited. Due to economic pressures and hardships many adolescents are engaged in laborious jobs in the capital.
The bill seeks to ban the employment of children but allows the employment of adolescents in certain non-hazardous tasks because imposition of complete ban on the employment of adolescents would deprive their families of livelihood as their parents find it hard to earn just enough money to live on, so they are left with no option but to depend on the income of their children.
The bill also strives to provide protection to the adolescent workers as enunciated in different International Instruments and the Constitution of Pakistan. The bill aims to achieve the aforementioned objectives.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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