LAHORE: The PTI government is introducing its first set of six bills, which are included in its reforms agenda, in the Punjab Assembly today (Wednesday), said the officials who were busy finalising drafts of the proposed laws till night on Tuesday.

The bills include Right to Services, Punjab Skills Development Authority, Domestic Workers Bill and amendments to the Tevta Act and the Industries Act.

Sources said the departments concerned were asked in the afternoon to have the bills approved by the cabinet members through circulation so that they could be introduced in the assembly today (Wednesday).

Cabinet members sent bills for approval through circulation

Under the law, all bills are introduced in the assembly after approval by the cabinet. And when there is no cabinet meeting, approval of the cabinet members is sought individually through circulation in case of urgency.

The sources said several officials of the departments concerned were made to go to the residences of the ministers and have their approval as all of them were present in Lahore due to the ongoing assembly session. The law minister would get approval, on Wednesday morning, of those members who could not be approached.

The assembly has not as yet constituted standing committees to whom all the introduced bills are sent by the Speaker for assessment and reports. The officials said legislation could take place without them as well, and there would be no problem for the PTI to have the bills passed by the assembly. They said these were first six of the several laws, which the provincial government intended to introduce or amend to implement its reforms agenda. Under the Domestic Workers Bill, the government would introduce registration of all domestic workers, define their rights and protect them for the first time in the province’s history.

Similarly, by amending the Tevta Act, it would place Punjab Vocational Training Council (PVTC), Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) and Tevta under the administrative control of the industries department. At present, the PVTC is under the Zakat and Ushr department and the PSDF is being managed by the P&D Board. The merger would eliminate duality of work and training by these three bodies would synchronise with job market, also keeping a record of its graduates given jobs or not in Pakistan or abroad.

Meanwhile, the sources said that the Punjab government would announce shortly a portal in which it would enlist graduates of all the public sector educational institutions. This portal would inform the job market about the availability of the required human resource besides enlisting which sectors would attract which types of graduates. This would guide students in pursuing studies that could guarantee them jobs.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2018