Combating adulteration: a question of enforcement

AT face value, the federal cabinet’s proposal last week to amend existing laws to award stiffer penalties to those found guilty of adulterating medicines, food and beverages with up to 25 years of rigorous imprisonment and confiscation of licence and property is a welcome move.

Harsher penalties against adulterators have long been the demand of consumers and consumer protection organizations in this country.

But, the timing of the cabinet’s proposal is uncanny.

News about reported high levels of pesticide contamination in two well-known American beverages in India had just broke, fuelling doubts amongst Pakistani consumers about the purity of similar beverages and bottled water in this country.

By showing that it does not take kindly to adulteration, the federal cabinet’s timely proposal actually serves to allay fears amongst consumers about similar contamination of beverages in Pakistan.

Various laws to check adulteration of food and medicines in this country already exist. The Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority Act 1996, the Islamabad Consumer Protection Act 1995, the Drugs Act 1976, the Pakistan Hotels and Restaurants Act 1976, the Cantonments Pure Food Act 1966, the West Pakistan Pure Food Ordinance 1960, and the Pakistan Penal Code 1860 - all provide for penalties against those found guilty of adulterating food and medicines.

The penalties vary under the different laws. For instance, the penalty is imprisonment of up to one year and fine of not less than Rs30,000 and/or confiscation of property under the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Act 1996. Under the Drugs Act 1976, the penalty is imprisonment of up to five years and/or fine of up to Rs50,000.

But, are these existing laws regarding the quality control of food and medicines being assidously implemented? Apparently not, because reports about adulterated food, medicines and bottled drinks frequently appear in the press, often baffling readers about the audacity with which people can actually indulge in practices that harm, even kill, their fellow countrymen - all this happening under the very noses of government food and drug inspectors and quality control experts.

Be it adulterated tea served in the “kokaars”, adulterated gram flour, atta, condiments and pulses sold in the shops, or adulterated ghee and edible oil manufactured in the factories - these products are potentially injurious to human health because they may be toxic or cause diseases like cholera, typhoid, etc. Other products like adulterated milk can kill babies and adulterated medicines can mean the difference between life and death for patients.

If already existing laws against adulteration are not being adequately implemented, are stricter laws against adulteration going to do consumers any good? Unlikely. In fact, if unimplemented, such laws will actually do more harm than good.

Non-implementation of laws due to official apathy and indifference only helps to embolden violators and encourage greater and greater violations.

A main hurdle in implementing the various existing laws against adulteration has also been the complexity of legal action against wrongdoers. Quality control inspectors cannot be effective if not given full support by government attorneys, the police and local government officials.

Under a weak enforcement environment, stricter laws will only provide more opportunities for unscrupulous officials to extort money and extract bribes from violators.

Stiffer laws to check adulteration will only work if existing laws in Pakistan about food and medicines quality control are being implemented to the fullest, and if these have been found insufficient to deter violators. Otherwise, the result of more stringent laws will only be more violations, and hence, greater incidence of adulteration.

While inadequate enforcement of food and drug laws, plus the lack of moral discipline amongst traders and merchants, are the major causes for the rise in food adulteration, the lack of consciousness amongst consumers has not helped the situation either.

Under the various existing laws regarding the quality control of food and medicines, it is the inspector, the quality control authority or the local authority, who is responsible for initiating action against the violators. There is no provision for consumers to initiate legal action under the laws. Neither is there provision for compensation or damages to the consumer.

Only the Islamabad Consumer Protection Act 1995 and a similar North West Frontier Province Consumer Protection Act 1997 provide for the court to order compensation (unspecified) to the consumer. But the existing complex, slow and costly court procedure in the country is a deterrent to any consumer contemplating such action.

It is obvious that harsher penalties per se against food and medicine adulteration will not be sufficient to stem the incidence of adulteration. Harsher penalties can only help to contain adulteration if accompanied by strict enforcement of the laws and by the simultaneous empowerment of consumers through comprehensive consumer protection legislation.

PR land lease in doldrums

THE much-trumpeted plan of the Pakistan Railways to generate financial resources by leasing out precious land for development of commercial plazas and a chain of 50 CNG filling stations along railway lines in various cities is hanging in the balance.

The Railway authorities after extensive studies had come out with a master plan for leasing out a number of sites for development of plazas and markets. Under the plan, the PR land along tracks at important places was to be given on lease to interested parties. One such lease was awarded for the development of a six-storey plaza equipped with modern facilities over an area of 37 kanals.

This site was leased out to a party for 99 years, for Rs111 million at a rate of Rs3 million per kanal. The contractor, according to the agreement, was required to pay the cost of the land. No other payment was to be made till 50 per cent of the cost was reimbursed to the Pakistan Railways. After realization of that sum, the remaining amount of sale proceeds was to be shared by both the bidder and the Railways on a prorate basis. This condition, however, could not be fulfilled owing to non-commencement of the project.

Likewise, it was required to raise a prototype structure on the project site for attracting prospective buyers and to start booking of shops after eight months and complete the sale of shops and space of the tower within two years. However, no headway could be made for lack of development of the tower. The developers had undertaken to develop 72 shops on all three floors in addition to six storeys of the tower at a cost of Rs384.970 million which was to be met through the sale of shops.

Originally, the site was a Railways Dak Bungalow (officers rest house) built during the British rule about a century ago. The building was a classical piece of architecture of high cultural and historical value. It was developed in the traditional Mughal style with verandas in front, arches over doors and windows, ventilators, with over 80 domes all round the building presenting a scenic view.

The building was bulldozed without getting a no objection certificate from the Tehsil Municipal Administration and the Faisalabad Development Authority, which, under the Local Government Ordinance, 2001, and the Citizen Act, 1976, were bound to protect, preserve and maintain buildings of cultural heritage.

Not only this, the lessee started developing the commercial plaza without submitting for approval its design and plan to the TMA and FDA. This was opposed by the TMA which demanded Rs46.0 million as conversion fee for raising the plaza. This move of the TMA resulted in a direct row between the Railways and the TMA. So much so, former railways minister Jawed Ashraf threatened the TMA that the construction work at the site would be carried out under his personal supervision. The TMA officials raided the premises and stopped the construction claiming that the entire work was being done without their formal approval and without payment of the fee.

The former minister, taking personal interest got a case registered with the railway police against City Nazim Mumtaz Ali Cheema and tehsil officer Khalid Masood on charges of stealing construction material and raiding the premises without ‘cogent reason’. Both the parties — the TMA and Jawed Ashraf — consigned the matter to cold storage after intervention of a senior figure.

However, when Jawed Ashraf resigned in the wake of the general elections, the TMA once again issued notices to the contractor to pay the conversion fee for raising the plaza. The lease-holder, reportedly, challenged the same in the Lahore High Court. However, the LHC rejected the writ petition and upheld the demand of commercial fee.

A source revealed that the entire leasing process was manoeuvred by a person who had an understanding with a Thai firm for payment of a sizable commission for using their name for procuring the deal. The front man could not pull through his plan owing to cumbersome procedure and the snail’s paced follow-up action by the railway administration.

According to the plan, this person had to pay the railways an amount of Rs111 million within 21 months. His idea was to get lease for the development of CNG filling stations. These allegedly were to be further leased out to other individuals after taking a handsome profit from them.

However, the entire drama could not be staged due to various impediments and the reported pressure of the Thai firm for payment for using their name as investor.

Interestingly, the lessee contractor in his bid had claimed that huge construction machinery was available in his warehouse in Thailand. No such machinery was ever brought at the site of the commercial plaza which showed that the contractor managed to dodge the PR administration that he was fully equipped with all sorts of machinery, which was a prerequisite for a bid for leasing out the PR property.

When contacted, Azmat Husain, director marketing, Pakistan Railways, claimed that the project had been delayed because of differences between the firm which had been awarded the contract for development of a commercial plaza on the site of rest house and the PR administration. He claimed that new contractors had been inserted in the contract and that a delay was mainly because of some differences over allocation of shares in lieu of some of the original shareholders of the contract.

When asked how could new shareholders jump in an already agreed and settled contract, he said investment was a very sensitive issue and the PR was not going to put pressure for minor things on the contracting firm as we had a stake of a huge amount which had to be generated from that project and further invested for overcoming the financial problem of the railways.

He said 98 per cent shares for setting up CNG stations at railway sites had formally been handed over to the Army Welfare Trust. The entire process of awarding the contract had been completed in a transparent manner and no hanky-panky was involved. An international tender was called through the world media for the establishment of CNG stations which reflected the transparency maintained by the railway administration, he said.

He said the delay in such a mega project was of a routine nature, and the PR administration was monitoring the whole development and trying hard to go through those projects which would facilitate the public on the one hand and provide a sustainable fillip to financial potential of the PR, on the other.

Legislators advocate constitutional reforms

UNLIKE the policymakers of Bangladesh’s two major political parties, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Awami League, some legislators believe that there are constitutional impediments to democratic practices in the country which need to be removed as soon as possible. They have recently proposed, in their personal capacities, certain constitutional reforms to ‘democratize’ the system.

The impediments the members want to remove include the lack of liberty to vote in parliament according to their conscience, prolonged boycott of parliamentary proceedings by the opposition, inadequate representation of women in parliament, wastage of public money on certain by-elections and the indiscriminate ‘embarrassments’ heaped on apex court judges.

Abdul Mannan, a BNP lawmaker from a Dhaka constituency, has in a private member’s bill proposed amendment to Article 70 of the Constitution, under which a lawmaker loses his/her seat by voting against his/her party or even abstains from voting.

Mannan finds the provision inconsistent with the spirit of parliamentary democracy, in which a ‘government is supposed to remain accountable to parliament’.

He, however, does not want complete removal of the provision, as he still finds it important to have some kind of constitutional deterrence against indiscriminate horse-trading by MPs that might destabilize a government. Mannan’s bill, therefore, proposes to re-write the present provision in a way so that an MP can always vote freely, except when ‘a motion of no confidence in the cabinet’ is up for consideration of the house. An interesting compromise, indeed.

Ali Newaz Mahmud Khaiam, another BNP legislator (from a Rajbari constituency), has moved a bill seeking to stop the practice of boycott of parliamentary proceedings by opposition MPs, which has become a regular practice in Bangladesh.

The MP observes that a constitutional provision provides legislators with the ‘legal’ scope to sustain a boycott for as many as 90 sittings, usually spread over two years. He has said that article 67 of the Constitution, which permits an MP to remain absent from the house ‘without the leave of parliament for ninety consecutive sitting days’, be re-written, reducing the span of time to 30 days. Khaiam’s bill virtually stipulates that a lawmaker will automatically vacate his/her seat in parliament if she/he remains absent from the House without prior approval of parliament for 30 consecutive sitting days.

Some other MPs, belonging to the Jatiya Party of General H. M. Ershad and Jamaat-i-Islami, have also moved identical Bills, but they have proposed to reduce the time to 60 days from the existing 90 days.

However, there is a strong sentiment in civil society that steps should be taken to make sure that MPs attend all sittings of parliament in all circumstances to represent the interests of the electorate.

Khaiam has also moved a bill seeking amendment to Article 65 of the Constitution to pave the way for creating 64 reserved seats in parliament for the next three decades exclusively for women — an electoral pledge his party is yet to meet.

While proposing the bill, Khaiam, however, failed to respond to the long-standing demand of women’s organizations that provision be made for 64 reserved seats for women and elections to those seats be held directly by the people.

Khaiam’s bill stipulates elect-ion of women on reserved seats by the 300 MPs elected by the people earlier.

Rustam Ali Faraji, a BNP lawmaker, has moved an amendment to Article 71 of the Constitution, seeking to do away with the candidate’s scope for contesting in parliamentary polls in more than one constituency at the same time.

Given the fact that there is no legal scope for any one to retain more than one seat, Faraji argues, a poor country like Bangladesh should not be burdened with the huge expenditure of holding by-elections.

It is interesting to note that the individual MPs have tried to address some long-standing public concerns, an initiative that was supposed to come from the policymakers of the major political parties. Will the policymakers now make up for their failures by allowing the private member’s bills to be passed?