No rules: Numerous laws in Sindh yet to see the light of day

Despite passage of considerable time, provincial govt has failed to implement many important bills

KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly has taken the lead in enacting various laws, however, most of the acts have yet to be implemented as the government has failed to draft the mandatory rules.

The lawmakers of the provincial assembly gave a standing ovation when the long-standing Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill was passed in March, 2013. However, despite the passage of four years, the law has not been implemented in the province.

The bill aims at institutionalising measures that prevent and protect women, children and any vulnerable person from domestic violence. After this law, the Sindh government was supposed to form protection committees at district levels, comprising social welfare officers, medical practitioners, psychologists, female police officers and representatives from civil society, to assist aggrieved persons.



Similarly, everyone praised the Sindh government when it passed the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2013. The then education minister, Pir Mazharul Haq, announced in the assembly that the law would be implemented within weeks, but after four years the bill has yet to see the light of day.

The salient features of the bill stated that the provincial government would not only provide free-of-cost and compulsory education to all children aged five to 16 in the province, but private schools would also be bound to provide free-of-cost education to 5% of the underprivileged students.

"We welcomed this law but it seems like the government has forgotten it promises," Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz MPA Aijaz Shah Sheerazi said. He added that passing a bill or the legislation is not an issue - its implementation is the true challenge for the government.



Another bill, the Sindh Commission on Status of Women, was passed in 2015 to set up a provincial commission for the promotion of social, economic, political and legal rights of women, as provided in the Constitution. The bill was passed as per international declarations, conventions, treaties, covenants and agreements relating to women, including the convention on the 'elimination of all forms of discrimination against women' but nothing has been done.

Since the law has been passed and it became the act after the governor's assent, no one has bothered to make the rules. Without the rules, the law cannot be implemented.

The Early Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2013 also faces the same fate, as no one has drafted its rules. The law was passed in April, 2014, following blatant violation of children's rights and underage marriages in the province. In order to curb child marriage, the bill was passed raising the marriage age from 16 to 18 years. According to the law, in cases of underage marriages, the parents, bride and groom can all be sentenced to three years in prison and can be fined Rs45,000. However, nothing has been done yet and the bill has been added to the pile of laws that are gathering dust.



The Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2015 pertains to the rates of compensation paid in cases of deaths or injuries to passengers in a stage-carriage or contract carriage. This was done by amending the Motor Vehicles Ordinance, 1965. But again the drafting of rules seems to be a huge challenge for the government. Transport Minister Syed Nasir Shah claimed the department has taken up this issue and the rules will be made soon.

Official sources in the Sindh Assembly said that dozens of bills passed in the last nine years are still pending rule approval by the government. Speaking to The Express Tribune, Law Minister Ziaul Hasan Lanjar said he has all these pending issues in the backlog and has now expedited the process of resolving them.

"We have finalised the rules for the domestic violence bill and early child restraint bill and have sent a summary to the chief minister for his approval," he said, adding that soon these rules will be finalised to implement the laws in the province.