Workers’ compensation law passed as opposition gives grudging consent

Session adjourned as MQM lawmakers protest over deputy speaker’s ‘biased' conduct; Speaker Durrani says Centre yet to reply to proposal for in-camera census briefing 

Karachi

Prior to Thursday’s session being called off on account of hostilities between opposition members and the deputy speaker, the Sindh Assembly unanimously passed into law the Sindh Workers’ Compensation Bill 2015 that aims to enshrine the interests of workers and labourers, particularly those associated with industrial and commercial units, in cases of work-related injuries.

The bill was drafted and moved by the Sindh government as the subject of labour has been devolved after the 18th amendment, but opposition lawmakers raised objections over the fact that the provincial government had replicated the federal bill almost word-to-word. The state of the present bill was highlighted by Leader of Opposition Khawaja Izharul Hassan during his speech in the house at the time of consideration of the bill. 

Hassan said the provincial bill had earlier been moved in the house for consideration during the February 19 session, and consideration on the day had been deferred over objections raised by him and fellow opposition lawmakers. 

Opposing immediate consideration of the bill, Hassan and MQM’s parliamentary leader, Syed Sardar Ahmed, pleaded that the draft should be referred to the standing committee concerned for a thorough review, while other opposition lawmakers also advised against passing the legislation in a hurry. 

Objecting over the virtual ‘copy and paste’ nature of the bill, the opposition leader pointed out that, while finalising the new bill, the provincial lawmakers had not even bothered to delete the names of federally run organisations such as the Karachi Port Trust and Port Qasim Authority.

The MQM lawmakers argued that the standing committees would be of no use at all if the related bills were not referred to them and were instead passed in a flurry by the assembly, without adequately reviewing their content and proposing suitable amendments wherever needed.

What the law entails

The bill proposes a payment of Rs500,000 for the death of an industrial or commercial unit labourer caused by a workplace mishap. Similarly, the same amount would be given in case a worker is rendered permanently disabled due to a workplace accident. 

In cases where industrial workers are rendered temporarily disabled, the bill proposes that they would be given half of their monthly wages till the time of recovery, though the maximum period would be one year from the date of the accident (if recovery takes longer than a year, the payment would stop after the first 12 months).

Besides covering cases of industrial mishaps leading to injuries or deaths of workers, the bill also includes a detailed list of occupational diseases that could be caused by exposure to any chemical agents used in the workplace.

It also entails that the government would appoint commissioners – government officers of no less than grade-18 associated with provincial labour directorate – for different areas of the province to resolve any disputes between workers and employers of commercial/industrial establishments regarding payment of compensation as prescribed by the new law. 

 

Opp, dy speaker face-off

Severe agitation by MQM lawmakers against what they described as “biased, partial, unlawful and undemocratic” conduct of Deputy Speaker Shehla Raza while chairing the proceedings of the House, compelled the latter to adjourn the session and call it a day.

As the House adopted, with majority vote, to consider the government-proposed Karachi Institute of Technology and Entrepreneurship Bill, a war of words erupted between the deputy speaker and MQM lawmakers. The opposition MPAs alleged that they had not been given enough time during proceedings of the House to voice their opinion and views on the legislations proposed by the government.

Things got heated and then personal between MQM MPA Irum Azeem Farooque and deputy speaker Shehla Raza, as the former tried to air her opinion about the entrepreneurship bill but her microphone was switched off.

As opposition lawmakers shouted in the House against the conduct of deputy speaker, the government-proposed bill for setting up the Karachi Institute of Technology and Entrepreneurship could not be considered amidst all the chaos and the session had to be adjourned till 3pm on Friday.

In fact, the situation got so strained that deputy speaker Shehla Raza could not do anything else but read aloud the rules of provincial assembly according to which no objection or remark could be uttered (even in media) against conduct and rulings of the speaker or deputy speaker of the House.

Moreover, a privilege and an adjournment motion moved by opposition lawmakers of the MQM were also turned down by the deputy speaker during earlier part of the proceedings.

Led by the leader of opposition in Sindh Assembly, Khwaja Izhar-ul-Hassan, MQM lawmakers loudly shouted slogans against alleged corrupt means and practices used by the government in its recruitment drives and other affairs.

Hassan also moved an adjournment motion against the alleged illegal recruitment drive of Reform Support Unit of the Sindh education department to recruit head teachers on contractual basis, but it was rejected by Shehla Raza.

Defending the recruitment drive, Sindh senior minister for education Nisar Khuhro said there was no irregularity in the ongoing recruitment being carried out by the Reform Support Unit since the contractual hiring of head teachers was being done in the light of the government’s agreement with the World Bank.

The minister clarified that the government’s recruitment rules had the provision of relaxation, since it was not mandatory to hire people against positions of BPS-17 on contractual basis through the Provincial Public Service Commission.

He said the National Testing Service was not hired to do the pre-qualification aptitude tests of the candidates for contractual teaching posts but the services of IBA Sukkur were engaged for the purpose.

When his adjournment motion was rejected by the deputy speaker, leader of opposition Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hassan harshly criticised the recruitment policies and practices of the Sindh government, including those finalised by the Sindh Public Service Commission, terming them totally against principles of merit and transparency.

Some time earlier in the session, a privilege motion had been moved by MQM MPA Muhammad Hussain Khan pertaining to non-release of funds by the Sindh government for development works as per the provincial budgetary allocations, but this too was turned down by the chair on the basis that the issue raised was quite “vague”.

 

Elected local govts

Speaking on a call attention notice of MQM lawmaker Syed Nadeem Razi, Sindh senior minister for parliamentary affairs and education Nisar Ahmed Khuhro said the newly-elected local public representatives of Karachi would be given office accommodations once all the phases of local government polls were completed and all the district municipal corporations, union committees and union councils were formed. “Once all the phases of local government elections are completed, the local bodies’ elected representatives will be given powers as per the law,” said the minister.

Earlier on another call attention notice of Kamran Akhtar of MQM, Khuhro informed the House that some 167 police constables were terminated from service when it was found out after scrutiny that were not qualified for the job. Of these 167 cases of police constables, he said, 14 were hired back since there was no violation of eligibility criteria for recruitment.

 

Centre and census

Earlier, Speaker Agha Siraj Khan Durrani lamented in the house that the Sindh Assembly secretariat had so far received no response at all from the federal authorities concerned who had been approached various times to hold an in-camera briefing on the forthcoming national population census drive in the country.

Durrani said on his instructions, the Sindh Assembly secretary had proposed Thursday as the day to hold an in-camera briefing for the lawmakers on the population census, but despite several attempts there had been no response from the federal authorities.

He said he would give one more chance to the federal authorities concerned to come up with their response on the proposal of holding the in-camera briefing in the Sindh Assembly about the upcoming census. But if he did not receive a reply this time, warned Durrani, he would have to take the lawful action against these authorities.