Sindh govt passes controversial bill amid protest

Opposition parties vow to challenge Sindh Accountability Act 2017

KARACHI: Amid strong protests by the opposition parties, the provincial assembly passed on Wednesday the controversial Sindh Accountability Act 2017 with a majority vote.

The joint opposition parties in the assembly protested and said they would challenge it in the court as no provincial assembly can pass a law after repealing the federal law.

Pakistan Muslim League - Functional lawmaker Nusrat Sehar Abbasi questioned that how Sindh government can do its own accountability through this new law after repealing the NAB ordinance. According to her, no one is able to do their own accountability and so would the government of Pakistan Peoples Party.



Crititising the bill, Muthida Qaumi Movement - Pakistan's Faisal Subzwari said the new law will not end corruption from the province. "It will encourage corrupt practices and protect the corrupt people within the province.

On the other hand, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said that the Article 142 of the Constitution is clear that the province can do law making on anti-corruption. According to Shah, the concurrent list has ended after the 18th Amendment.

He said that provincial government cannot do law making on any subjects included in the federal list, while corruption is not one of them. "As per the law, corruption is a provincial subject. Corruption has nothing to do with the federal legislative list."

Shah criticised the NAB by saying that it has protected the corrupt people in the province through a plea bargain and maintained that there has been no inquiry in corruption cases such as RO plant case and tractor subsidy scam by NAB.



Sindh Accountability Act 2017

The Sindh Accountability Act 2017 will apply to all officeholders who are performing their functions in connection with affairs of the government funds in Sindh and include the transaction and utilisation of government money.

Under the new law, Sindh Accountability Agency (SAA) will be set-up, which will be headed by a chairperson. The agency will be overseen by an accountability board that will include SAA chairperson, Sindh advocate-general, SAA prosecutor-general, director-general and investigation director as members.

The SAA chairperson will either be a retired judge of Sindh High Court or a civil servant of grade-21 or above with proven competence, good reputation and high integrity. The SAA chairperson will be nominated by a parliamentary committee of the Sindh Assembly. The committee will consist of six members - three each from treasury and opposition - named by the leader of the house and the leader of opposition. The committee will be headed by Sindh Assembly speaker.

Earlier while rejecting the Sindh Governor Muhammad Zubair's dissenting note on NAB Ordinance 1999 Sindh Repeal Bill 2017, the Sindh cabinet unanimously approved on Saturday the draft bill.