KARACHI, Nov 28: The Sindh Assembly on Monday witnessed the most chaotic and uproarious scenes of the ongoing session that disrupted the day’s proceedings for three times. Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah had to exercise his powers to adjourn the deliberation repeatedly in his effort to restore order. He also had to ask Syed Murad Ali Shah of PPP to leave the house and not to attend the proceedings on Tuesday.
Amid opposition members’ angry protest and raising of slogans ‘Go… Go… Go…’ and ‘shame… shame… shame’, the treasury benches moved and passed Bill No.9 of 2004, ignoring the uproar. This appeared to be the first legislative business of the current session. The bill pertained to the establishment of the Indus Institute of Higher Education.
Besides, the house referred the Bill No. 8 of 2004, relating to the promotion of consumers’ interest and other identical matters, to the concerned standing committee for further consideration. Motions for both the bills were moved by Law Minister Chaudhry Iftikhar.
The house was considering the Bill No. 2, seeking amendment to the Removal From Service (Special Powers), Sindh, Ordinance-2000, clause by clause and the law minister was still on his feet after getting its three clauses passed when the chair called it a day at around 2.50pm due to the rumpus.
Earlier, the discussion on general principles of the Bill No.2 was hampered as the opposition benches opposed it and demanded that the bill be either withdrawn or sent to the select committee for further consideration. They argued that its clauses, particularly 14 (a) and (b), would deprive government employee from seeking justice through courts.
Makhdoom Jamiluz Zaman, who was leading the opposition in the absence of the leader of opposition, Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, as his deputy, asserted that the bill was against the human rights enshrined in the constitution. The bill, he added, also manifested as if the government did not have faith in the constitution and judiciary. As such, the government wanted to assume all powers, he observed.
Similar views were expressed by PPP members Shazia Marri, Saifullah Dharejo, Munawwar Ali Abbasi, Sassui Palejo, Dr Mehreen Bhutto, Fariha Razzaq Haroon, Nuzhat Pathan, Anwar Mehar, Najmuddin Abro, Sharfun Nisa Leghari, Jam Mehtab Dahar and Murad Ali Shah, as well as Hameedullah Khan of MMA.
From treasury benches, Imtiaz Ahmad Shaikh was also critical of the Bill and said that no government employees should be left on the mercy of an individual as it would be against the rule of law and constitution to stop anyone from approaching a court to seek justice.
The law minister maintained that the opposition had misunderstood the bill and the spirit behind presenting the same. He explained that the proposed amendment would not deprive a government employee of his right to move court. However, he said, an aggrieved person could have the right only after his appeal was decided by the services tribunal.
The bill provides that an employee cannot bypass the services tribunal to approach a court as the service tribunal having two retired judges of high court is also constituted under Article-212 of the constitution.
Chaudhry Iftikhar said that under the existing law, any employee against whom action had been initiated for corruption, could seek stay order from a civil court.
Such a case could remain in pending for years, he pointed out. By opposing the bill, he alleged, opposition members wanted to abet corruption.
Ms Sassui Palejo, without seeking permission from the chair, reacted angrily to the minister’s remarks and started speaking. As she interrupted the minister’s speech, the chair repeatedly asked her to stop speaking and wait for a chance to speak with the permission of the chair. After failing to convince her, the speaker called for indulgence of the acting opposition leader, Makhdoom JamiluzZaman, but to no avail.
The situation prevailed for almost 10 minutes during which chaotic scenes were witnessed. At times, all the opposition members stood up to join in the uproar. From treasury sides also, Irfanullah Marwat, Mohammad Hussain and the law minister were countering the opposition’s flurry. The speaker warned Ms Palejo twice of making her leave the house if she did not stop disrupting the proceedings.
As soon as order was restored, the law minister stated that those sitting in the opposition benches had done some good legislation while they were in power. In this regard, he made mention of the Lyari Development Authority Act, but added that the present opposition members did not have vision.
His statement sparked off another round of angry reaction from the opposition. However, when order was restored again, Shazia Marri, proposed that the bill be sent to the select committee.
Speaker asked her if she had given a notice in writing to the law minister in this respect.
PPP’s Murad Ali Shah pleaded the Ms Marri’s case, saying that according to the procedure, the bill should have gone to the standing committee first for its consideration.
The speaker ruled that the stage where it could have been sent to the committee has passed off as the bill was being considered clause by clause now.
When the PPP member interrupted the speaker, the chair issued another warning and asked him to leave the house. The member was also ordered not attend the Tuesday proceedings. This triggered off yet another spell of pandemonium. The law minister accused the opposition of creating obstacle in the way of legislation. Failing to restore order in the house, the chair called it a day.
In the morning, when the house reassembled at 11.30am, Law Minister Chaudhry Iftikhar sought the chair’s permission to move a motion that called for postponement of the day’s question hour to next day for legislation.
This was opposed by opposition members who wanted the proceedings to be run as per the agenda. More than six opposition members spoke against the motion. This was followed by acrimonious scenes when the chair gave the floor to the law minister. However, the speaker put the motion to the house and a majority of the members favoured relaxation of rules to enable the minister present his motion.
Again when the House resumed business around 12.05 pm, the interruption was at its peak. the entire opposition assembled in front of the speaker’s rostrum. The members continued to raise slogans while the treasury benches got one bill passed and the other referred to the standing committee. The third bill was taken up when the chair announced break for Zuhr prayers.
When the House resumed business at 1.55 pm, the opposition started participation in the legislation business as per an understanding with the law minister reached during Zuhr break. However, this understanding could not last more than 10 minutes.
Earlier, the Law Minister laid the following ordinances before the assembly under Article 128 (2) (a) of the constitution: the Sindh Ordinance No XII of 2005 — The Sindh Civil Servants Housing Foundation Ordinance-2005; the Sindh Ordinance No XIII of 2005 — The Colonization of Government Lands (Sindh Amendment) Ordinance-2005; the Sindh Ordinance No. XIV o f”Helvetica”B05 — the Sindh Disposal of Urban Land (Repeal) Ordinance-2005.
KARACHI, Nov 28: The Sindh Assembly on Monday witnessed the most chaotic and uproarious scenes of the ongoing session that disrupted the day’s proceedings for three times. Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah had to exercise his powers to adjourn the deliberation repeatedly in his effort to restore order. He also had to ask Syed Murad Ali Shah of PPP to leave the house and not to attend the proceedings on Tuesday.
