Bill to amend controversial SPSC law adopted
KARACHI, April 16: The Sindh Assembly, in its first regular session, adopted the Sindh Public Service Commission (Amendment) Bill 2008 with a majority after a brief discussion.
WednesdayÂ’s session also saw the return of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement to the house, along with the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional, PML-Q and National People’s Party, after the parties ended their boycott of the assembly. The MQM had walked out during the April 7 session following the manhandling of Sindh PML-Q chief Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim.
The high-mark of the first sitting of the house was the completion of business on the order of the day, except for the constitution of the standing and other committees, whose formation was deferred unanimously by the house.
The Sindh Public Service Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2008, was taken up for consideration after the motion was carried following the dispensation of Rules 84, 85 and 86.
Syed Sardar Ahmad, leader of the MQM’s parliamentary party, raised an objection on Sub-section (2) of Section 4, whereby the “government was armed with the discretion to reconstitute the commission and reappoint the chairman and the members within a period of 30 days from the date on which this sub-section comes into force.”
In the amendment bill there are four sections:
1- The act may be called the Sindh Public Service Commission (Amendment) Act, 2008 and shall come into force at once.
2- In the Sindh Public Service Commission Act, 1989, hereafter called the said Act, Clause (bb) of section, shall be omitted.
3- Throughout the Act, for the word “governor,” the word “government” shall be substituted.
4- In the said Act, for Sub-section (2) of Section 4, the following shall be substituted:
“(2) The chairman or a member shall hold office for a single non-renewable term of five years from the date on which he enters upon his office; provided that the government may, in its discretion, reconstitute the commission and reappoint the chairman and the members within a period of 30 days from the date on which this sub-section comes into force.”
After the bill was introduced for consideration, Sardar Ahmad wanted to refer the bill to a select committee.
The great debate
The speaker did not allow him as the time for raising objections had passed. However, when the general principles of the bill were moved for consideration, he pointed out that at first, there was no need for moving the bill as the ordinance of March 27, 1999, by which powers of the government were transferred to the governor as there was no government apart from governor’s rule, had lapsed after three months because the above ordinance was not covered in the PCO of Oct 12, 1999.
He said after lapse of the ordinance, the powers of the government had reverted to the chief minister. He said he had no objection on the bill taking back powers from the governor, but on the sub-section of Clause 4.
Mr Ahmad said this would set a bad precedent as if the chairman and the members of the commission would not have tenure security, they would be tempted to appease the chief minister to secure their office.
He said that under Clause 6 of the Act, no chairman could be removed without proof of misconduct. He said that if the chairman was substituted, there would be lot of legal complications.
“Therefore, it should be referred to a select committee and the bill could be taken up for consideration in the next session,” he observed.
He also pointed out that the new chairman of the commission was appointed not by the governor but by the caretaker chief minister as required under the law, adding that the chairman could go to the high court and get himself reinstated. “Such precedents existed in which the high court had undone such an act of the government in the cases of tenured posts.”
Haji Munawwar Abbasi, Syed Murad Ali Shah and Rafique Engineer from the treasury benches said that during the “dictatorial rule,” the executive powers of the government were taken over by the governor. This law was amended in the form of a bill in 2004 but remained unimplemented.
Now that democracy had been restored and the provincial assembly had become functional, it was expedient to restore the powers of the government, they added.
Pir Mazharul Haq, who is the PPP’s parliamentary party leader, pointed out that since elections were held on Feb 18 and the outgoing chairman of the commission Mohammad Hasan Bhutto’s tenure was till March 27, 2008, what was the hurry for the caretaker government to appoint the new chairman beforehand if it did not have mala fide intentions.
He said under the Election Commission’s directives, the mandate of the caretaker government was specified to holding elections. Besides, the caretaker cabinet, in its last meeting held on March 12, 2008, during discussions had reiterated that it had no power to make appointments and postings. He said the minutes of the meeting and the notification of the EC was with him in the record. He said appointing the new chairman of the commission was tantamount to snatching the powers of the elected government.
Pir Mazhar also pointed out to Sardar Ahmad that the government could exercise, if he liked, the right of substituting the chairman only within 30 days as after 30 days it would lapse.
Syed Sardar Ahmad again suggested the bill be referred to a select committee, but the speaker pointed out that the time of putting it to the house for referral had passed and asked the law minister to move the clauses for first reading of the bill.
After the third reading, when the bill was put to the vote, it was passed by a majority.
The other business on the order of the day included the laying of five ordinances pertaining to the Pakistan Institute of Management, the Sindh Civil Servants (Amendment), the Sindh Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Privileges) (Amendment), the Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) and the Sindh Government Servants Benevolent Fund (Amendment).
The house was called to order about an hour behind schedule at 5.05pm by Speaker Nisar Khuhro, while the seat of leader of the opposition was vacant. As the speaker entered, sloganeering started from the galleries, but was soon quieted
After a recitation from the Holy Qur’an and Na’at, fateha was offered for the father of Dr Farooq Sattar, journalist Khadim Ali Shaikh, who was recently murdered in Hub, and the victims of the April 9 tragedy in Tahir Plaza, along with others.
There was a brief ruckus in the press gallery as journalists started complaining as other visitors had taken up their seats in the gallery. As some media-men started to chant ‘boycott,’ drowning out what was going on, on the assembly floor, assembly staffers brought the situation under control by emptying the benches meant for the press. Information Minister Shazia Marri later also requested the speaker to make special arrangements for the press.
New members
Soon after, the speaker administered the oath to the newly elected members — Mir Hasan Khan Khoso of the PPP and Heer Soho of the MQM. Slogans once again rang out as the two members signed the roll but further clamour was swiftly quelled by Mr Khuhro.
As opposed to the acrimony of the inaugural session, there was a display of great camaraderie between the opposition and treasury benches during Wednesday’s session.
The opposition members, led by Shoaib Bukhari, Syed Sardar Ahmad, Faisal Sabzwari, Adil Siddiqui of the MQM and Jam Madad Ali and Ms Sehar Abbasi of the PML-F and Arif Jatoi of the NPP, greeted Qaim Ali Shah and Nisar Khuhro and assured the government of full cooperation on all business that would be in the interest of the people, the province and the country.
They also referred to the stand they had taken while in government over issues like the NFC Award, Kalabagh Dam, Water Accord and provincial autonomy, and said they also expected the treasury would uphold the “principled” stand while dealing with the federal government.
Mr Bukhari, whose congratulatory messages for the chief minister and the speaker were met with desk thumping from across the divide, asked the government to give the people of Sindh what they wanted, but hoped the government would not take away what the people already had.
Sardar Ahmed hoped the speaker would treat the government and opposition equally while Faisal Sabzwari, deputy leader of the MQM’s parliamentary party, said that “we do not want opposition for the sake of opposition.”
Jam Madad Ali raised the issue of arrests of PML-F’s workers in Khairpur, while a MQM minority MPA asked for an investigation into the alleged murder of two men on Easter in Bhittaiabad.
The MQM’s Shoaib Bukhari, Adil Siddiqui, Abdul Haseeb and Anwar Alam asked to be excused as they had to attend the Qur’an Khwani of Farooq Sattar’s father.
Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and Pir Mazharul Haq expressed gratitude for the felicitations.
Welcoming the opposition’s goodwill gestures, they said a constructive opposition was necessary for the smooth working of any democratic government.
Qaim Ali Shah, saying that he had “no words” to express his gratitude, assured the members who had complained of victimisation that there would be no persecution by the PPP government, despite the fact that the party had faced a lot of political victimisation while in the opposition. “Our actions will match our words,” he added.
Before Qaim Ali Shah’s speech, Law Minister Ayaz Soomro thanked the MQM for the “positive steps taken for Sindh and Pakistan,” while Pir Mazhar appealed for maturity.
“Twenty years have passed and we must show maturity to the people who have elected us. We don’t want to repeat the same story. If we fail to come up to the people’s expectations, we will not return,” to the house, he said.
Speaker Nisar Khuhro also expressed gratitude for the kind words and said that “it was the beauty of parliamentary democracy that we tolerate each other and the institution provides both opportunity and accountability. Therefore let us join hands to take the institution forward and strengthen it.”
As there were no questions, privilege or adjournment motions, the ordinances were laid in the house.
The house was prorogued at around 6.40pm
Source: Dawn
Date:4/17/2008
” 
” 
” 
” 
” 
