September 4, 2003	Thursday	Rajab 6, 1424

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PESHAWAR, Sept 3: Opposition in the NWFP Assembly took the government to task on Wednesday for not acting on the reports and recommendations prepared by the house committees on health, education and local government departments.

The session, presided over by Speaker Bakht Jehan Khan, witnessed a debate on the non-implementation of the reports prepared by the house committees to look into the transfers and postings ordered in the health and education departments earlier this year.

Anwar Kamal Khan of the PML-N initiated a debate on the matter and drew the attention of the chair towards the alleged non-serious attitude of the government. Mr Khan was of the opinion that either the house should dissolve the committees or the government implement their recommendations.

He said the lawmakers, who are members of these committees, held regular sittings in Abbottabad and Peshawar to collect information and look into the complaints against different departments. The government had spent a huge amount on the visits of these MPAs, who after strenuous efforts prepared their reports. But now the government was reluctant to take action on these reports, he added.

The house committee on institution-based practice had recommended to the government to abolish the IBP system introduced by the former military regime and restore the old system in hospitals. But again the government was reluctant to take a decision on it, he observed.

Abdul Akbar Khan of the People’s Party Parliamentarians spoke on the importance of parliamentary committees and quoted examples from the US, British and Indian democracies.

He was of the view that parliamentary committees were the moving force behind modern legislatures. “The main purpose of a committee of the Parliament is to hold the government accountable,” he said quoting from the Government by Committees, a review of British constitution by K. C. Wheare.

He said according to Mr Wheare there were six roles of a parliamentary committee: “.. to advise, to inquire, to administer, to legislate, to negotiate and to scrutinise and control. These basic roles can be fulfilled, if private members take some initiative to asserting their independence”.

Mr Khan said an Indian parliamentarian, Jaswant Singh, in his book, Committee System in India, wrote: “Committees basically examine issues in detail, study the matter from various angles, call evidence from the people, who are concerned with the issues and arrive at an independent and objective opinion; subsequently a report is made and it is presented to the house. The committee performs a useful and objective study of a specific issue on behalf of the entire house.”

Mr Khan said the legislature enacted all laws, which were enforced by the executive and interpreted by the judiciary. “When an executive or a judiciary acts contrary to the guidelines set by a legislature, it gives birth to a crisis,” he added.

He said the prevailing political crisis in the country was caused by executive’s (Gen Musharraf) refusal to obey parliament on the issue of the Legal Framework Order. Parliament was supreme than the other two organs of the state, he added.

Mr Khan said the government could not reject reports of the committees as they were constituted by this house.

Bashir Bilour of the Awami National Party, Qazi Mohammad Asad of the PML-Q, Mureed Kazim of the PPP(S) and Shahzada Gistasip of the Independent Group urged the chair to advise the government to implement the recommendations of the parliamentary committees.