'Contempt of parliament' bill sails through Senate
Pakistan
Bill was passed at a time when tussle between parliament and judiciary is in full swing
ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) - The Senate passed a bill ‘contempt of parliament’ which proposes a six-month punishment for breaching the privilege of any of its member.
The ‘Contempt of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) Bill’ was earlier passed by the National Assembly in May.
The legislation wasn’t referred to the standing committee of Senate but still the upper house passed it as the bill was introduced through a supplementary agenda.
The law will now become an act of parliament as it has been sent to the president for his assent.
The bill was moved by the senators hailing from Balochistan and Punjab.
Senators Kauda Babar, Naseebullah Bazai, Sarfraz Bugti, Prince Ahmed Umer Ahmedzai and Rana Mahmoodul Hassan moved the bill which was later passed by the upper house through voice vote.
Minister of State for Law Shahadat Awan said the National Assembly had already passed the bill unanimously and therefore, it should be considered for voting without being sent to the standing committee concerned.
It merits mention here that the bill has been passed at a time when tussle between parliament and judiciary is in full swing. The lawmakers are accusing the judiciary of interfering in the domain of the executive and parliament.
Under the new law, the parliamentary contempt committee will be formed by the NA speaker that will include five members: three from the NA and two from the Senate.
The National Assembly secretary will act as the secretary of the contempt committee.
The law empowers the speaker to constitute the contempt committee within 30 days of coming into force of this act.
Four members will be nominated by the leaders of the house and opposition in both the houses while one NA member will be announced by the NA Speaker.
The committee will enjoy the powers to award punishments by a majority decision. “Whoever commits contempt under this act, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months or with fine which may extend to one million rupees or with both,” reads the bill.
“The Contempt Committee shall have powers as vested in civil courts under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, for enforcing the attendance of any person and compelling the production of documents,” the bill says.
All the proceedings of the committee shall be quasi-judicial and any document produced and evidence recorded by the committee shall not be admissible as evidence in any court.
Section 10 of the bill stipulates that any decision of a house shall be executed and enforced by district magistrate within whose territorial jurisdiction the accused is temporarily residing under relevant provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898.
Any appeal against the decision may be filed within 30 days only before the speaker or the chairman.
“A person is guilty of contempt under this act, if he is found to have willfully breached the privilege of a member, a House or a committee; violated any law guarantying the immunities or privileges of the members; failed or refused to obey any order or direction of a House or a committee; refused to give evidence or recorded false statement before a committee; attempted or influenced a witness either by intimidation, threat or use of force to prevent him from providing evidence, producing documents or appearing before the committee; and failed to provide any documents or submitted tampered documents before a House or a committee,” the bill says.
