LAHORE, Sept 27: The National Assembly speaker has deposed in the Lahore High Court that the assembly secretariat has received no bill from the federal government to enact a law against the trade of human body organs.

The speaker submitted in the court on Tuesday that it was the government and not the assembly which was empowered to initiate a legislation and the national legislature or its secretariat had no powers to enact a law.

The reply was submitted on the writ petition of Advocate M. D. Tahir who sought from the federal and the Punjab governments to enact laws to make the trade of body organs a cognizable offence.

The court adjourned further proceedings for two weeks after deputy attorney-general Dr Danishwar Malik submitted that the federal ministry of health and not the ministry of law and justice was responsible for the legislative work on the subject.

Replying to a court question, he submitted that the interior ministry was yet to file a reply on the writ petition.

The court had issued notices to the federal and the Punjab governments besides the IGP to explain if they were considering a legislation to prevent the inhuman business.

The petition, which was amended during the course of the proceedings, sought a court injunction against the federal and the provincial governments and those involved the trade of kidneys and other human organs. It also sought the court instructions to the governments to legislate for prevention of the ‘crime against humanity.’

Citing an incident of Sultanpur Mela in Sargodha district where about 400 people were forced to sell their kidneys to pay off debt in 2000, the lawyer-petitioner submitted that the hateful business was being carried out by a mafia of doctors and their agents. He submitted that they were purchasing kidneys and other body parts of the poor and selling them at high price to wealthy patients from within the country and abroad.