Article 65 of Constitution: Cabinet likely to approve proposed amendment
ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet, which is scheduled to meet on Tuesday (today) with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair, is likely to approve amendment to Article 65 of the Constitution, meant to scrap the election of a member of Parliament (National Assembly or Senate) or provincial assembly for not taking oath as member for 60 days.
Former Finance Minister Dar elected Senator in 2018 has yet to take oath and has been resident in London. Likewise, former Interior Minister Interior Minister, Ch. Nisar Ali Khan, who contested elections in 2018 as an independent candidate lost election of National Assembly seat but was elected as member Punjab Assembly; he did not take oath, arguing that if he takes oath, he accepts elections as free, fair, and transparent.
The Federal Cabinet, in its meeting held on September 1, 2020, approved in principle the proposed amendment in Article 65 of the Constitution in order to stipulate time line for taking oath by the Members elect and directed Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs to move a summary for seeking formal approval of the Cabinet
Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs is of the view that in certain cases the members elect do not take oath for years, consequently their constituencies/ provinces remain unrepresented in respective houses. The issue was, however, overlooked in the Electoral Reform Package proposing amendments in the Constitution and the Elections Act, 2017, recently approved by CCLC/Federal Cabinet, which are yet to be introduced in the National Assembly after their vetting by Law & Justice Division. The Ministry has proposed that a proviso under Article 65 of the Constitution may be inserted as per draft Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020, to prescribe 60 days' time limit for taking oath by the Members of the Parliament. And appropriately incorporated in the above referred Constitutional (Amendment) Bill, 2020 already approved by the Cabinet, subject to vetting by the Law & Justice Division.
The following is the proposed amendment "Oath of members:- A person elected to a House shall not sit or vote until he has made before the House oath In the form set out In the Third Schedule. Provided that if a person elected to a house fails to make oath before the house to which he is elected within sixty days from the date of the first sitting of that house after its election, such person shall lose his right to be a member of the relevant house and his seat shall be deemed to have been vacated on the aforementioned sixtieth day." The cabinet will accord approval to additional charge Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of National Fertilizer Corporation (NFC), to Additional Secretary, Dr. Hamid Ateeq Sarwar.
The cabinet will be given an update on Lahore- Sialkot Motorway gang-rape case, along with the statements of CCPO Lahore and other government officials. The country's overall law and order situation and police reforms will also come under discussion.
The cabinet will discuss country's political situation, including the planned All Party Conference (APC) of Opposition parties for September 20, 2020. Other items of cabinet agenda are as follows ;(i) cancellation of suspected pilot(s) licences ;(ii) appointment of CEO of National Disaster Risk Management Fund on interim basis ;(iii) appointment of Air Commodore Faisal Ayaz Siddiqui and Air Commodore Adnan Siddiqui as members commercial and technical respectively in PAC Board Kamra for a period of four years in terms of section 4(1) of Ordinance;(iv) status of civil services academy;(iv) appointment of judge, special court ( central) Peshawar;(v) appointment of judge special court ( central-II) Lahore;(vi) construction of Model Prison- amendments in the Master Plan of Islamabad to the extent of adjustment in the alignment of 17th Avenue due to Westwards Displacement of boundary wall of Model Prison in sector H-16, Islamabad; and (vii) distribution of functions between CDA and MCI in the light of the Mustafa Impex case.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020