Govt withdraws accountability bill allowing 40-day remand

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Law and Justice on Tuesday withdrew the National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (Ordinance No. VI of 2024) under which the remand of a detained accused was extended from 14 days to 40 days.

The Standing Committee of the National Assembly on Law and Justice, which was presided over by Chairman Chaudhry Mahmood Bashir Virk on Tuesday, was informed by the Ministry of Law and Justice that it preferred to withdraw the bill. During the meeting, officials from the Ministry of Law said they have proposed 13 projects including 13 major jails in Pakistan being linked to courts. After deliberations, the committee approved the first five projects and deferred the remaining for reconsideration. The Law Ministry told the committee that the funds received for the previous year have been utilized.

The Law Secretary said that all the courts in Islamabad are being digitalized and banking courts have also been connected to this system throughout the country. The Law Ministry Secretary said that they are going to bring this system to the provinces as well. He told the committee that they are digitizing the system of the federal courts of Balochistan, and they will start an online system inside the jails next year.

The chairman of the NA Standing Committee, Chaudhry Virk, told Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar that a recently built building can monitor and pose security threats to the Supreme Court, Parliament, and the PM House. Federal Minister Azam Tarar told the meeting that a joint session of parliament will be held on March 10, and the National Assembly will meet on March 11. The chairman declared that the members of NA panel who have become ministers are no longer members of the committee.

The committee put off deliberations on “The Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill, 2025 (Government Bill), The Qanun-e-Shahadat (Amendment) Bill, 2025 and The Constitution (Amendment) 8bill, 2025 (Article-59)” till the next meeting.