PEC asked to draft bill on implementation of building codes

The Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice on Wednesday directed the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) to draft a bill within three weeks in the light of proposed draft on implementation of building codes with special provisions for seismic protection and send it to the Law Division for vetting.
The committee met with Senator Muhammad Javed Abbasi in the chair approved the proposed draft on implementation of building codes with special provisions for seismic protection, suggesting penal provisions and mechanism regarding violations and asked the PEC to prepare a draft bill and send it to Law Division for vetting through the Ministry of Science and Technology. After vetting the bill by the Law Division, the bill will be submitted before the Federal Cabinet for its final approval.
Chairman PEC Jawed Saleem Qureshi told the Committee that the Council has prepared a detailed document which has identified standardising authorities for construction material, geotechnical engineers/consultant, architects, structural design by the engineers, constructors and supervision by the building control authorities. "Currently there is no institution in the country to standardisation of construction material as well as monitoring of structural design," he added.
He said the institutions identified for the effective implementation of building codes in Pakistan at various stages include Pakistan Standard Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) for standardisation of construction material. The PEC will conduct registration of consultant and structural designers. Pakistan Council of Architects and Town Planners (PCATP) will conduct registration of architect, and Capital Development Authority (CDA), Ministry of Housing, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Pak PWD, Commissioner and Islamabad Mayor will be responsible for supervision of building control authorities/ executing agencies.
The Senate body discussed in detail "The Civil Courts (amendment) Bill, 2016" moved by Senator Azam Swati seeking to encourage adequate representation of women in judiciary and "The courts (amendment) Bill, 2016" moved by Federal Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid seeking to amend West Pakistan Civil Courts Ordinance, 1962 to the extent of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) to give unlimited pecuniary jurisdiction to district judge and additional district judge, Islamabad with respect to an appeal from any order or degree passed by a civil judge. After the detailed discussion, the Committee deferred two civil courts (amendment) bills, 2016 till next meeting.
During the discussion on the amendment bill moved by Senator Azam Swati, which asks for a quota for women judges in the lower courts of the ICT limits, the Secretary Ministry of Law Division told the meeting that out of the total 76 judges in lower courts, 14 judges are female, 35 are male judges while 27 posts are vacant; therefore, the present ratio of women judges is quite sufficient.
He further said that there should be no compromise on merit in appointments in judiciary while there was no bar in the constitution for women to become judges. The same view was given by representatives of different bar councils during the meeting. Senator Saeed Ghani, however, endorsed the bill and said that this quota for women judges at lower judiciary will help women judges come in mainstream.
Senator Jehanzeb Jamaldini said that some areas of Pakistan have poor education facilities and, therefore, there should be quota for those areas. "If we give best possible provisions across Pakistan, we can ask for merit to prevail, but if we are not even giving reasonable provisions, quota should be allowed," he said.
The Committee also discussed the matters related to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) referred by the Chairman Senate. Secretary Statistics Tahir Pasha and Chief Statistician Asif Bajwa told the committee that all provinces are duly represented in the governing council of the PBS. Pasha said that the PBS is autonomous in its function but it is not autonomous financially.
A senior official of Law Division while explaining the status of autonomous bodies said that the statutory bodies which are dealing with the revenue related matters of the country or other sensitive data could not be given full autonomy. The Committee members agreed that the matter related to autonomy and provincial representation would be discussed in detail in the next meeting.