18th Amendment: Sindh fails to legislate on subjects transferred to provinces

Several federal institutions now with the province have no legal cover.


Saba Imtiaz February 16, 2012

KARACHI:


The 18th Amendment to the Constitution is often referred to by the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) as one of the biggest achievements in its current tenure. The legislation – which granted provinces control of several key areas – is groundbreaking in theory.


But the implementation of the amendment has been a challenge for provinces. There was an interim period – a little over a year - after the 18th Amendment was passed in April 2010 in which provinces were to develop systems to administer and running these areas. The deadline for this process was June 30, 2011.

One area that has been ignored to a considerable extent in this regard is legislation. Provinces were supposed to pass laws relating to a specific area. For example, if hospitals are now being controlled by a province, it must pass laws relating to that area.

There are two solutions to this. One is that the provincial assembly drafts a new law and passes it. The second is that the provincial assembly passes the same law that the federal government used, with some changes, so that the working of these areas gets a legal cover. This approach, while effective in the short term, opens a host of questions in the assembly, where lawmakers question its clauses. Secondly, for provincial autonomy, the laws should be tailored according to the province’s needs – not be a mere copy of what the federal government used.

Ignoring the lawmaking process comes with the risk that people could file petitions asking why the departments are being run with no legal cover or on the way the devolved institutions are being run.

In Sindh, where political and nationalist parties were extremely vocal in the demand for provincial autonomy, few of these laws have been passed.

According to a trade union representative, of over 70 laws relating to labour – a subject devolved to the provinces under the 18th Amendment - only one has been passed by the Sindh Assembly: the Industrial Relations (Revival and Amendment) Act.

Constitutional expert Zain Shaikh says the government should enact the same laws that existed before. “For the time being, the government should make nomenclature changes and make a law which is the same as the federal law.” He said the provinces are not equipped to make provincial laws from scratch but should enlist experts to help. “They have a good law department in Sindh. If they wanted to set their minds to it they would.”

Sindh Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ayaz Soomro told The Express Tribune in January that the government moved 11 bills in the then session of the Sindh Assembly. A list available on the Sindh Assembly website states that 22 acts have been passed since 2008. However, the pace is slow. Drafts of much-needed legislation in Sindh, such as that for a witness protection programme, require approval by the law department before they can be presented to the assembly. A law providing for a system of local governance is also being discussed by coalition partners, but nothing concrete has emerged in almost two years of discussions.

Shaikh highlighted that the implementation of the 18th Amendment is not just about laws, but also about financing. “It is easy to say that an institution has been decentralised but now you need to finance it.” He said provinces need to initiate taxes to finance the institutions that have been handed over to them, since they were earlier bankrolled by the federal government.

According to MQM parliamentary leader Syed Sardar Ahmed, there has been some headway on the issue. “There was a meeting on February 7 with the chief minister and other senior ministers, including the law and parliamentary affairs minister. We discussed this issue of legislation and we have agreed that the draft bills prepared by departments – for example the environment department – will be given to the parliamentary leaders to review. We will then place these in the next session of the assembly.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17th, 2012.

COMMENTS (2)

H.A. Khan | 12 years ago | Reply

So sad. Sindh assembly needs to be more deligent

Ayesha | 12 years ago | Reply

Labour laws pertaining to corporations operating in more than one province should have ramained a federal mandate as is the case in all other federations of the world. Babar Sattar of PILDAT has written an excellent report on this matter. It should be read seriously by our law makers.

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