Punjab PA adopts bill pursued by speaker

The provincial government on Tuesday placed ‘The Punjab Emergency Service (Amendment) Bill 2021’ on the agenda of the Punjab Assembly and managed to get it passed unanimously. Speaker Chaudhry Pervez Elahi had recently expressed displeasure over the government’s failure to table the bill.

The government seemed eager to avoid opening a new front with its allies over the issue and decided to keep the assembly’s atmosphere cool. The assembly proceedings continued for about 40 minutes and several questions were put off to take up the bill. It was a private members’ day. Normally, the government does not introduce its business on the private members’ day. The assembly also passed The Punjab Transparency and Right to Information (Amendment) Bill and Times Institute Multan (Amendment) Bill 2021.

The mover of The Punjab Emergency Service (Amendment) Bill 2021 was PML-Q’s Khadija Umer. She stated that the emergency service established in 2006 was discharging its functions in an efficient manner, but its council, which had to meet once in three months, had met only six times. A service structure could not be introduced due to contract appointment policy in vogue at the time. After the amendment, a person having served as director general for at least three years shall be deemed to be a regular employee of the service. The director general shall exercise all powers of an administrative secretary.

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Due to the engagements of the chief minister who is the chairman of the service, the provincial law minister has been made the vice chairperson so that he may conduct the routine meetings. The employment of all officers and rescuers shall be regularised by the competent authority on completion of three years of service subject to good performance and physical fitness. Time scale up-gradation shall be granted to the regular employees after completing seven years of service in each grade.

The members from both the treasury and opposition benches unanimously adopted two resolutions related to free education for children aged five to 16 years and implementation of service rules for graduate English language teachers. The resolution on free education was presented by PTI’s Shamim Aftab who demanded that the federal government introduce a comprehensive policy and implement it in letter and spirit.