Punjab Assembly: Members pre-approve house committee constitution

The penalty for not paying minimum wage set for modest increase.

LAHORE:

The provincial Assembly on Friday preapproved the list of law makers for membership of various standing committees.

The leaders of the opposition and the house have not yet finalised the names. This is a violation of the Rules of Procedure of the provincial Assembly 1997.

Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan on Friday moved a resolution seeking the approval of a list of names of law makers for various standing committees and special committees of the house.

Sanaullah presented the list of members of the house for various standing committees under Section 150 of the Rules of Procedure 1997. The house unanimously passed the resolution.

Sub-rule 1 of Section 150 states that the members of committees will be elected, as far as possible, in accordance with the agreement of the leader of the house and the leader of the opposition and in the absence of a leader, his deputy.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Ayesha Javed, who abstained from voting, later said “The rules clearly state that the list should be presented in the house at the time of its passage. Getting the list approved before the names are even finalised is a gross violation.”

Another Assembly official said it was illegal for the leaders of the opposition and house to get the list authorised before deciding who the members would be.

Sources in the treasury and government said that Rasheed and Sanaullah had held a meeting on how the chairpersonship of committees will be shared between the opposition and government after the session, but failed to reach a consensus.

PML-Q’s leader in the parliament Sardar Vickas Hassan Mokal said names of members of standing committees were yet to be finalised. He said that following preliminary talks, Sanaullah had sought time to consult Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

He said that government had proposed to give the opposition the chairmanship of six standing committees besides the Public Accounts Committee No 1.

He said the opposition had demanded the chairmanship of the standing committees on Health, Home and Education Departments and a privilege committee. Mokal said the government wanted to hand the chairmanship of low-budget departments like the Environment Protection Department, Population and Minerals to the opposition members.

Mokal said the government had proposed that two opposition members be part of each standing committee and special committee. There would be 10 members in each committee.

There are 38 standing committees and eight special committees.

Minimum wage

The Assembly also passed the Punjab Minimum Wages for Unskilled Workers [Amendment] Bill 2013 on Friday.

The Punjab Labour and Human Resources Department has been devolved to the province governments following the 18th Amendment. The previous act on the subject had to be adapted according to the terms of Clause six of Article 270 AA of the Constitution.

After a discussion on the objectives of the bill and several clauses, a special committee decided to recommend the bill for passage after a few amendments. According to the bill, amendments like the enactment of a fiscal penalty and power to amend the schedule had been proposed.

Six amendments were proposed to The Punjab Minimum Wages for Unskilled Workers amendment Bill 2013 so it would be cited as The Punjab Minimum Wages for Unskilled Workers [Amendment] Act 2013.

Section 7 of the previous ordinance has been amended to increase the penalty of non-payment of the minimum wage from Rs2,000 to Rs10,000.

The word government in Section 2 of the 1969 Ordinance will now refer to the government of Punjab. The term industrial area has been redefined in sub-clause (e) to refer to a district specified by the government as industrial areas.

Three amendments proposed by the opposition were rejected by the treasury benches.

The acting speaker adjourned the session for an indefinite period of time.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2013.