NA passes 'The Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2019'

The National Assembly Friday passed 'The Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2019' amid protest of opposition parties while fate of the Finance Supplementary (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019 hangs in the balance as Speaker Asad Qaiser prorogued the House for an indefinite period. The Finance Supplementary (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019 had been introduced by Federal Minister for Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs Asad Umar in the National Assembly on Wednesday last.
According to the sources, the bill was not approved during the session of the National Assembly as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government abruptly decided to prorogue the session. They said that the next session of the National Assembly would be summoned in the first week of next month (February) and the mini-budget would be approved after debating and incorporating some recommendations of the Senate which would be submitted to the secretariat of the Lower House of the Parliament. The Senate is already discussing the Finance Supplementary (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019 for preparing recommendations. The Senate has to submit its recommendations on the finance bill within 14 days after its laying before the Upper House of the Parliament.
PTI's Chief Whip in the National Assembly Malik Amir Dogar while talking to this correspondent said there is no urgency to pass the Finance Supplementary (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019. He said that the bill would be passed in next session of the National Assembly. He said that meanwhile the recommendations of the Senate would also be submitted to the National Assembly Secretariat. Sources said that the opposition has also convened first ever united opposition parliamentary group meeting on Monday (January 28) to take stance on the bill. However, after prorogation of the House, meeting has also been postponed for an indefinite period of time.
When Parliamentary Secretary for Law and Justice Maleeka Ali Bukhari moved the Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2019 to increase the strength of the judges of Islamabad High Court (IHC) from seven to ten including chief justice in the House for passage, the opposition members particularly of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz raised objections on the bill.
Syed Naved Qamar of PPP while raising strong objections on the bill said that there is very shortage of judges in high courts of all the provinces. He said that there is huge backlog in high courts of Punjab and Sindh. He said that there is need to increase the strength of judges in the high courts of the provinces. He said that already three posts of Islamabad High Court are vacant. First the government should fill these vacancies before passage of the bill.
He said that there is a need to make the procedure for appointment of judges transparent. He said that Parliamentary Committee on Appointment of Judges is not fully functional and its role is same as a rubber stamp. He said that there is a need to empower the parliamentary committee for appointment of judges.
Former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi of PML-N suggested that judges should be required to submit their tax details annually, saying they submit asset details dating back at least five years. He said that it is important legislation and the opposition members already presented a note of dissent in the standing committee on Law and Justice during discussion on the bill.
He said that there is a need to first fill in vacant posts in high courts. He said that representation of all provinces should be given in Islamabad High Court. The government, however, dismissed the opposition's recommendations and amendments and proceeded to pass the bill. The National Assembly passed a motion, moved by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan, for authorising the Speaker to include any member and make changes in the composition of standing committees of the House.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan presented "The Elections (Amendment) Ordinance 2019" during the session. Earlier, a rumpus erupted in National Assembly after exchange of harsh words between the opposition members and federal ministers during the session. Harsh words were exchanged between Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Dr Shireen Mazari. Afterwards, the session remained suspended for 15 minutes due to lack of quorum as pointed out by opposition member Naveed Qamar.