Islamabad: Objections were raised on the ‘Contempt of Parliament Bill 2023’ by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.
On the issue of approval of the Contempt of Parliament Bill 2023 by the government, the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs raised objections on several clauses including the title of the bill and termed the reasons given for contempt in the bill as inappropriate.
The Ministry has objected that the Contempt of Parliament Bill 2023 is not compatible with Article 66 of the Constitution. In this regard, it has been suggested that the Contempt of Parliament Bill should be made in accordance with Article 66 of the Constitution. The title of the bill should be kept as “Contempt of Parliament Committee” instead of “Contempt of Parliament”. The ministry has said that Article 66 of the Constitution mentions insulting the committee and not the Parliament.
The proposals made in connection with the Bill further stated that under Article 5 of the Constitution every citizen is loyal to the State and Parliament is a part of the State.
Regarding the Bill, the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs submitted recommendations to the Standing Committee on Rules and Regulations, which stated that Parliament is part of the State and is included in the definition of the State. The definition of joint session should be made a part of the bill. The House passes a resolution that deals with an administrative matter.
The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has said that the recommendations of the committees of both houses have not been made mandatory for the government. Ambiguity in the sub-sections of Clause 4 of the proposed bill should be removed and interim authority should be kept in the bill in case of suspension of sentence.
Later, the meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Rules and Regulations ended, in which no final decision came out despite the debate on contempt of parliament.
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