Daily Times

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice on Thursday after detailed discussion recommended that Protection of Parents Bill, 2021 should be passed by the Assembly with amendment.

The NA body under the Chairmanship of Riaz Fatyana, unanimously confirmed the Minutes of previous meeting held on 8th and 9th September 2021, and deferred the agenda No.2 till its next meeting.

Discussing the Protection of Parents bill, Qadir Mandokhel said that the Deputy Commissioner should not be given the power to punish anyone.

Ahsan Ullah Tiwana said that it would be better to empower the elected local body representatives. Local government representatives should be empowered to settle disputes between parents and children, he added. Mahmood Bashir Virk said that there would be very few cases where children evict their parents. It would be appropriate to authorize only the Deputy Commissioner to decide such cases on merit, he added.

The Standing Committee passed the Parents Protection Bill with minor amendments. The bill included a provision for mediation of local body representatives before the Deputy Commissioner.

The Committee did not consider the Central Law Officers (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and deferred the same till next meeting. The Committee considered the Constitution (Amendment) Bill,2021 (Article 11 and 25A) and after detail discussion recommended that the Bill should not be passed by the Assembly.

The Committee considered the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (Section 5 and schedule) and after detailed discussion deferred the same with recommendation to the Pakistan Bar Council to reconsider the issue along with all the Provincial Bar Councils to devise a long-term formula for enhancement of the seats of Bar Councils. It was also recommended that the Pakistan Bar Council should also propose the solution for enhancement of tenure of Bar associations from one year to two years. It was also recommended that Pakistan Bar council should also submit its proposals before the committee regarding judicial reforms especially with regard to recruitment of judges as well as for the consolidation of laws in Pakistan. The Pakistan Bar Council opposed increase in seats in Sindh Bar Council.

The PBC supported for one more seat of the Bar Council for the merging districts of former FATA. If the number of seats increased, the number of KP Bar Council members would increase to 29.

Faheem Wali said that the PBC could not increase seats by increasing the number of lawyers. There was no representation of merging districts so PBC was supporting additional seats, he added.

Law Minister Farogh Naseem said that it would be appropriate if the Bar Representatives and members of the Assembly to sit together in the Ministry of Law and work out a formula. He said that details would be presented to the committee after consensus.

Mahmood Virk said that the Bar Council should look into the matter by formulating the appropriate formula itself. The Committee also considered the Bills, The Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils (Amendment) Bill, 2021 (Section 5) moved by Mohsin Dawar. During deliberations Pakistan Bar Council supported the Bill to the extent of enhancement of one seat. After detailed deliberations the Committee recommended the Bill should be passed with amendments as suggested by the Pakistan Bar Council.