Naeem Malik
The Punjab government under the leadership of Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar is successfully completing its half-term. During this time, rumors about the government were circulating again and again, but Sardar Usman sat in the Chief Minister’s House and focused only on his work and service to the people.
His greatest achievement is that even in difficult financial situation, Punjab, like other sectors, has enacted record legislation for the second year in a row and, despite a strong opposition, has passed very important laws in the public interest whereas the Covid-19 pandemic also affected the holding of Punjab Assembly sessions. The excellent performance of the government in the field of legislation can be gauged from the fact that during the last two and half years, the Punjab Assembly passed 63 bills whereas only 33 ordinances were promulgated in comparison that showing Buzdar government’s strong commitment to the good governance in Punjab. Although enjoying a clear majority in the Assembly, previous governments seemed to rely more on ordinances than on principal legislation. In this historic achievement, the government had full support of Speaker Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and Provincial Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Muhammad Basharat Raja. Raja Basharat went ahead in the assembly at every opportunity to defend the government’s measures and responded to the opposition by raising objections. Not only that, but he also made the opposition realize its actual constitutional responsibility to assist the House in peoples friendly legislation.
If one takes a cursory look at the legislative process of the Punjab government, in 28 months, the Punjab Assembly held 25 sessions in which important constitutional bills were passed which had a direct bearing on the welfare of the people and aimed at removing obstacles in solving their chronic issues. For example, sugarcane growers are always faced with two problems every year, namely, not starting the crushing season on time and then not making payments by the sugar mills. Many mills had been squeezing billions of rupees from the farmers for years but the cowardly governments did nothing in that regards. This credit goes to the Buzdar government that amended the Punjab Sugar Factories Control Act 1950 and issued the Punjab Sugar Factories Control Ordinance 2020. Sugarcane growers were stopped from being exploited by the sugar mafia and this year all the sugar mills across Punjab started crushing season on the date fixed by the government. Similarly, the owners of sugar mills have been made legally bound to pay all the dues to the farmers by March. Some of the most important bills to be passed are the Punjab Local Government Act 2019 which will prove to be the most effective means of devolution of power across the province to the people and self-identification of their problems by setting up their own local government in villages and Muhallas. It will provide opportunities to solve the civic problems at the local level. The Punjab Panchayat and Neighborhood Councils Act, 2019 has been passed to ensure this. CM Punjab woes that the Punjab Government will provide ample funds and development budget to these institutions. The increasing burden of public cases on the courts is also a major issue. To address this, Punjab Alternate Dispute Resolution Act 2019 was passed.
This law will pave the way for resolving minor disputes of the people merely through local representatives and will reduce the case load on the courts which will enable the courts to deal with more important cases expeditiously. The present government has announced to set up universities in every district. Committed to it, the Act was approved for seven universities, including Mir Chakar Khan Rind University, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rawalpindi Women’s University, University of Mianwali, University of Chakwal, Green International University, Kohsaar University Murree and Baba Guru Nanak University Nankana Sahib. This law will definitely reduce the rush of students in big cities and give every student the opportunity to pursue higher education closer to the home. Putting Pakistan in the gray list by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) yielded a manifestation of many international complications. In this regard, the Punjab Government has enacted two important laws for the implementation of FATF, namely, the Punjab Ceased and Frozen Institutions (Madrassas and Schools) Act, 2019 and the Punjab Ceased and Frozen Institutions (Hospitals and Dispensaries) Act, 2019. Thanks to them, the way is open for legal action against illegal and terrorist-sponsoring organizations, which was not possible before.
The Corona epidemic has affected the health, economic and social situation of the world. For the first time, a government has provided legal cover to government measures against it and the Punjab Assembly has passed Punjab Infectious Diseases (Prevention Control) Act 2020 for this purpose. To work on scientific basis for preparation and approval of new laws, Punjab Government has taken a new step. For effective legislation process, a research cell is being set up in the law department. With the cooperation of the Speaker, a similar research cell is being set up in the Punjab Assembly which will provide assistance and guidance to legislators, especially women members of the Assembly and the Standing Committees. Previous governments gave no attention to change centuries old on rules and regulations while the present government has
updated the centuries old laws and is continuing this work on the directives of the Chief Minister.
The updated old laws include the Cooperative Societies Act 1925 and Pakistan Prisoners Act 1894. The previous government set up the Women Protection Authority, but the then chief minister became the head of the women’s body himself keeping it inactive for many years. When the PTI government came, it revived the organization, gave it a budget and now it is also providing remarkable services to women victims of violence. Similarly, the Child Protection Bureau to protect the rights of children has also been activated.
Information and communication technology (ICT) is being used to provide easy access to the laws of the Punjab government to the people and like the first year, during the second year also the existing laws were reviewed and updated and so far three volumes of laws of 1908 to 1925 in the form of Punjab Code have been developed and published. Work is underway on the fourth volume of the 1925 to 1955. These laws are available to the public online for free at www.punjabcode.punjab.gov.pk.
