Failing the test: Lawmakers present motor vehicles bill, not knowing what it says

Speaker defers legislation to Friday after treasury members fail to answer queries

KARACHI:

Despite consuming two hours discussing the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2015, the lawmakers in the Sindh Assembly failed to understand the actual spirit of the law on Wednesday.

The treasury members, especially the transport minister who had moved the amendment to give compensation for death and injuries to passengers in cases of road accidents, were in a state of confusion. The government proposed amendments that already exist in the law. This created confusion in the session as treasury members and transport minister failed to clarify the opposition members' queries about the objectives of the law and the procedure to benefit road accident victims.

When senior ministers sitting in the front row could not satisfy the opposition parties, they referred the queries to the transport minister, who also had little idea about the law. The bureaucrats concerned, who always facilitate the ministers in case of confusion, were absent as the officers' gallery wore a deserted look.

The law, which is being revised after 1965, has determined the compensation payable on injury to passengers traveling in a stage carriage or contract carriage by giving Rs250,000 in case of death, Rs65,000 due to loss of arm at or above elbow, Rs50,000 for loss of arm below the elbow, Rs65,000 in case the leg at or above the knee is broken and Rs140,000 if a person loses both legs in the accident. Most of the MPAs felt the compensation was not enough.

Responding to them, senior education and parliamentary affairs minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro clarified that the compensation will not be given by the government but will have to be paid by the transport owners. According to Khuhro, the death compensation in 1965 was Rs3,000, which has now been enhanced to Rs250,000. "At the time of getting the route permit, these transport owners assure the government to generate some funds for road accident victims," he said. "Earlier, they would give bank guarantee but now they will give this compensation through an insurance company."

He added that these bus transport owners will pay annual premium to the insurance company, which will pay the compensation to commuters in case of an accident.

The bill was taken up during the session but a debate started when opposition members belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) questioned the procedure and credibility of the insurance company that will give the compensation to the victims.

MQM parliamentary leader Syed Sardar Ahmed diverted the attention of the ministers towards clause II of the bill. "No certification of a group insurance company shall be required in respect of a stage carriage permit authorising the plying of carriage exclusively in an urban area," stated the clause but Ahmed claimed it already exists in the Provincial Motor Vehicle Ordinance, 1965. "I wonder if you are moving the same amendment to the law," he said.

Khuhro and finance minister Murad Ali Shah tried to give a clarification but were unable to satisfy the House. "It will be okay it you are making the amendment to replicate the clause for the entire province, as our members have already suggested," said opposition leader Khawaja Izharul Hasan. However, the transport minister was unable to shed light on the law. Later, Khuhro requested deputy speaker Shehla Raza to defer the bill till Friday to consult bureaucrats, transporters and technical experts.

Meanwhile, a government official, who requested anonymity, told The Express Tribune that the government is carrying out the entire saga to give business to Sindh Insurance Company, making it mandatory for transporters to get insurance policy through this company.

Privilege motion: Implementation of resolutions and bills 

Earlier, the assembly discussed a privilege motion moved by Muttahida Qaumi Movement MPA Mohammad Hussain regarding the implementation of resolutions and bills. “We want to know what action has been taken by the provincial government on it,” he said, adding that the assembly had passed a resolution against kidnapping, rape and forced conversions but these cases are on the rise as the government has not taken action.

Khuhro said that the government has contained kidnapping incidents and has managed the law and order situation on assembly recommendations. The assembly also rejected Hussain’s adjournment motion regarding billion of rupees worth of corruption in Sindh government departments. Referring to media auditor-general’s report, he said that irregularities of Rs1 trillion have been found in various accounts of the Sindh government in 2014-15, so the assembly should debate on it. Khuhro termed the report ‘untrue’. “The adjournment motion is out of order and hypothetic,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th,  2016.