Terming the promulgation of ordinance as unconstitutional and unlawful practice, the Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat unanimously rejected 'Pakistan Medical Commission Ordinance, 2019' and recommended the government to withdraw it immediately. The committee rejected the Ordinance by passing a resolution unanimously in its meeting held with Senator Muhammad Talha Mehmood in the chair here at Parliament House on Thursday.
According to the resolution, "The members of the committee said the last PMDC Ordinance (Ordinance II of 2019), which was identical with the earlier one and was thoroughly discussed in the Senate and its standing committee, has also been disapproved by the Senate of Pakistan on August 29, 2019. "Whereas it is a fact that there is frustration and unrest in the community of medical profession owing to "Pakistan Medical Commission Ordinance, 2019" promulgated on 20th October, 2019 which is somewhat identical to the previous ones already lapsed/disapproved by the Senate of Pakistan.
"It would be tantamount to providing the executive a machinery to bypass the constitutional mandate of the legislature and this we cannot permit, being absolutely against the sprit of the Constitution which embodies the important principles of democracy and tracheotomy of powers. "Therefore, this committee unanimously demands the government that the 'Pakistan Medical Commission Ordinance, 2019' must be withdrawn immediately and the unconstitutional and unlawful practice of promulgation and re-promulgation of the 'identical or somewhat identical' ordinances regulating the medical profession/PMDC be abandoned and avoid as the same is badly affecting the medical profession and jeopardizing the effective oversight and mechanism of the profession."
The committee members said that the Senate has already rejected the Ordinance and the promulgation of the Ordinance is tantamount to degrade the supremacy of the Parliament. While briefing the committee, Adviser to Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms and Austerity Dr Ishrat Hussain said that a total of 441 federal government organizational entities have been reorganized. He said that federal government would hold 342 departments and some would be emerged in other organizations.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019