NADRA may issue inheritance certificates; bill ready in K-P

K-P Assembly to mull forming tourism authority with powers surpassing Environment Act

PESHAWAR: People will no longer have through the arduous court procedures for acquiring inheritance certificate, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly is considering handing over the job to the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA).

A visit to the NADRA office could resolve the immense problems people face in acquiring the document considered most vital in the distribution of family fortune. With complete details of the family tree, NADRA knows the best who are the inheritors of any deceased person.

The provincial assembly is going to meet on Monday, during which the revenue ministry will table Inheritance Amendment Bill 2019.

A bill for the establishment of legal aid agency and K-P tourism bill is likely to be tabled during the session too.

Speaker Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani has finalised the agenda for the upcoming session of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday during which the provincial government would bring amendments into Inheritance Act 1925 under which the government will enable National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) to give inheritance certificate to the family of the deceased, the certificate will be considered as the legal documents for in any requirements.

Besides this, the assembly would also propose forming a legal aid agency run by the director-general of grade-20 officer for the speedy justice system in the province.

Under the legal aid system, a panel of lawyers will be appointed at the tehsil and district level for the provision of the legal aid to the people within their jurisdictions.

If the disputing parties were to disagree with the decision of the legal aid agency, they could challenge it within seven days in the provincial home department.

The legal aid agency would also provide help to people who could not afford a lawyer fee. Moreover, lawyers on the panel of the agency would be removed if they fail to perform.

The K-P Assembly would also discuss the K-P Tourism Bill 2019 which proposes forming a board under the chair of the chief minister for developing a mechanism for promoting tourism in the province.

The board will have the authority to form a five-year plan for the tourism in the province and grade-19 officer, appointed for a three-year term, will look after the board polices. The main office of the board will be in the provincial capital, while local offices will be at all district level or tourism zones.

The board decisions would be exempted from the jurisdiction of local government, environmental act, bio-diversity, minerals act, forest ordinance, and food safety authority.

The board will have the authority to uproot any public park or building for the purpose of promoting tourism.

The authority would also be authorized to issue tourism licences to anyone, form tourism police, while until full-fledged police force, the K-P police personnel would be taken on deputation for that force to ensured safety and security of the tourists in those designated zones.

Under the new authority, they could level penalty of up-to Rs10,000 on violators, while the quota of disabling would also be increased from two to four per cent in the recruitments. 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 22^nd, 2019.