NA passes bills to repeal FBC, HBFC

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Wednesday passed two bills including the Establishment of Federal Bank for Cooperatives and Regulation of Cooperative Banking (Repeal) Bill, 2017 and the House Building Finance Corporation (Repeal) Bill, 2017, as reported by the standing committee.

Both the bills were piloted by State Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs Rana Muhammad Afzal in the House.

The statement of objects and reasons of the Establishment of Federal Bank for Cooperatives and Regulations of Cooperative Banking (Repeal) Bill, 2017 said the process of liquidation of the Federal Bank for Cooperation (FBC) was commenced on October 16, 2002 by the federal government on the recommendations of the State Bank of Pakistan. After completion of all formalities/liquidation process, the federal government dissolved the FBC on April 2014.

The statement of objects and reasons of the Housing Building Finance Corporation (Repeal) Bill, 2017 said that the HBFC Act, 1952 has lost its effectiveness and has become redundant; therefore there was no need to retain it.

It has therefore been proposed and recommended to repeal the HBFC Act, 1952 with all its amendments.

A bill to provide for the constitution and regulation of the Joint Maritime Information Organization (The Joint Maritime Information Organization Bill, 2018) was also introduced in the House, by Minister for Defence Khurram Dastagir Khan.