KARACHI, Jan 17: The Sindh Assembly on Monday deferred till next session the governor’s message requesting the house to reconsider a government bill relating to the administrative control of educational boards in the province.

The bill, which was passed by the house on Aug 13, 2008 and submitted to the governor for his assent under Article 116 of the Constitution, pertains to transfer of the controlling authority of all educational boards of Sindh from the governor to the provincial government (chief minister).

While the Sindh Assembly had passed the bill more than two years back, the governor did not sign the bill and sent it back to the assembly for reconsideration.

Some differences between the Pakistan People’s Party and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, both coalition partners, over the bill are said to be the main cause of the delay in its reconsideration.

The PPP was of the view that Sindh was the only province where the administrative control of the educational boards was with the governor. In the other provinces the control was with the provincial governments.

The PPP maintained that the control of the educational boards had been transferred to the governor during the 1972 governor rule in the province, but now this administrative control ought to be transferred to the provincial government.

However, the governor, in his message with the request for reconsideration, stated that in order to maintain absolute transparency, meritocracy and good governance, the educational institutions, the bureau of curriculum, the Sindh Textbook Board, which are already under the administrative control of the provincial government; the institutions conducting examinations should invariably be under the administrative control of two separate authorities. Therefore, it is expedient that the governor should continue to be the controlling authority of the boards of intermediate and secondary education in Sindh. Accordingly, the amendment in the bill may be omitted.

The house was called to order at 10.15am by the deputy speaker and adjourned at 12.40pm after passing into law the Sindh Zakat and Ushr Bill, 2011 with three minor technical amendments moved by Arif Mustafa Jatoi of the National People’s Party and introduction of two amendment bills.

Before the bill was taken up for a clause-by-clause reading, Mr Jatoi said that there appeared some technical mistakes which should be removed before taking up the bill for consideration.

He said that he had found five technical mistakes and it appeared as if the photo copy of a federal law was moved in the Sindh assembly by replacing the word ‘federal government’ with the ‘provincial government’.

He said it would be better if the bill was referred back to the standing committee concerned.

Sardar Jam Tamachi of the PPP seconded his suggestion and said that there was a need to follow the parliamentary practice of referring the bill to the standing committee before its consideration.

Law Minister Ayaz Soomro said that after the 18th Amendment, the zakat and ushr department, which used to be with the federal government, and the collection and distribution of zakat and ushr were transferred to the provinces. Therefore there was a need for this legislation which after passing into law would be called as Sindh Zakat and Ushr Act 2011, he added.

Responding to the points raised by the two MPAs, the law minister said that the bill had already been introduced and the time for suggesting amendments had passed.

A 15-member Sindh Zakat Council would be formed under the Sindh Zakat and Ushr Bill, 2011 and a retired judge of the high court would be appointed as its chairman by the Sindh government. Five of the members, including three ulema, would be nominated by the government in addition to two women and the secretaries of the finance, health, local government, social welfare and zakat and ushr departments. The chief administrator would be the secretary of the council.The Sindh Zakat and Ushr Council would constitute the district, town, taluka and local zakat and ushr committees. In Karachi there would be five zakat and ushr committees.

Concern over law and order breakdown

The breakdown of law and order and incidents of targeted killings in Karachi and Hyderabad echoed in the Monday session of the Sindh Assembly and some members raised points of order to express their concerns.

Soon after Fateha was offered for the victims of the targeted killings incidents in the city, Syed Waseem Hussain of the MQM stood on a point of order and said that the increasing incidence of crime in Hyderabad, which until recently used to be a peaceful city, was a cause for concern and during the last few days, an activist of his party was assassinated while another was wounded last night.

He asked the Sindh home department to take note of the situation and take effective measures to curb such incidents.

Responding to the point of order, Law Minister Ayaz Soomro said that the incidents of targeted killings were a conspiracy against the people and democracy.

He said that he had asked the Hyderabad DIG to submit a report and the house would be taken on board on it.

Minority MPA Ahuja drew the attention of the house towards kidnapping of five Hindus, including three children, in the interior of the province and demanded that they be recovered at the earliest.

The law minister said that the Hindu community represented the culture of Sindh and due notice had been taken of the complaint.

Ghulam Mujadid Isran said that Kambar was now the district headquarters but its hospital remained functioning as a taluka hospital with only one doctor and a few paramedics. Although its district hospital building was approved but there was no progress. Likewise there was a shortage of medicines, he added.

The law minister informed the house that the previous government had created new districts to appease their colleagues without providing any facility required to raise the status of the towns.

He said doctors did not like postings in rural areas, which was a hurdle in their postings. However, he assured that he would take up the issue with the chief minister to address this problem.

Nusrat Sehar Abbasi of the PML-Functional drew the attention of the house towards relief goods received from Iran for distribution among flood-hit people through the Sindh Red Cross. These goods included blankets, medicines and eatables, which were rotting at the KPT warehouses for want of clearance.

Haji Munawwar Abbasi said that embankments along the Indus River and regulators on bridges, which had been damaged during the floods, were not being repaired except the Tori Bund. He demanded that the Indus commission should take due notice of it.

The law minister said that the government was making all-out efforts to facilitate the flood-hit people, who were still living in camps.

He asked the chair to fix time to discuss the post-flood situation so that the government could provide detailed reports of the measures so far taken to facilitate the affected families.

Khalid Ahmad of the MQM said that instead of criticism with reference to the post-flood situation, a constructive approach ought to be applied.

He suggested that meetings of different standing committees, like health, education, public health engineering, etc, should hold their meetings in the affected districts where infrastructure was badly damaged and prepare a plan for allocation in the new budget.

Razzaq Rahimoo of the PML-Q drew attention towards the dilapidated condition of roads in Thar and complained that local people were not being employed in the Thar coal power project.