• Real estate management authority bill among two introduced
• Session adjourned within 15 minutes due to lack of quorum

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Friday passed three bills during a brief session that was adjourned till Monday evening due to lack of quorum.

The bills passed by the lower house were the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Ame­ndment) Bill 2025, the Associates Press of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2025, and the Newspapers Employees (Conditions of Service) (Amendment) Bill 2025.

The session lasted only 15 minutes and was adjourned after Ja­­miat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) MNA Aliya Kamran pointed out the lack of quorum. Speaker Ghulam Mustafa Shah, who was presiding over the session, ordered a headcount. As the government failed to meet the required quorum, the session was adjourned due to low attendance.

Two additional bills were also introduced: The Centres of Exce­llence Act 1974 (Amend­m­ent) Bill 2026 and the Federal Gov­e­rnment Real Estate Management Authority Bill 2026.

The Real Estate Management Authority bill states the government owns vast tract of urban and rural land across the country. These immovable commercial properties, including land and structures built on them, are owned, operated and managed by the federal ministries, divisions and organisations under their control. Many of these lands have significantly incre­ased in value due to urban expansion and growth of commercial activities.

However, most government entities have failed to manage these real estate assets optimally. The bill not­ed that many properties are affected by encroachments, illegal occupation, and legal disputes. Despite government directives, most properties are not being utilised in an economically viable manner.

Real est­ate management is a specialised fun­ction, and none of the existing government organisations has the exclusive mandate or capacity to perform it efficiently. There­fore, the bill proposes the establishment of a dedica­ted professional bo­­dy — the Federal Government Real Est­a­te Mana­ge­ment Authority — to own, manage, or lease federal government properties as approved by the government.

The Centres of Excellence (Amen­dment) Bill 2026 stated that the Cab­inet Division had conveyed the PM’s directives to ensure 33 per cent women’s representation in all federal boa­rds, statutory bodies, public sector organisations and allied committees.

The Mi­­nistry of Federal Education and Professional Training has started the process of making necessary amendments to the existing laws governing autonomous organisations under its jurisdiction.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2026