Emergency Services Bill not on agenda: Annoyed Speaker adjourns PA session without any business

Our correspondentBy

LAHORE: Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi on Thursday expressed anger over the government for not including the Punjab Emergency Services Bill in the agenda of Punjab Assembly proceedings and adjourned the House without any business.

Responding to the adjournment of the PA session without any proceedings, Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat said: “Mr Speaker! If you want to appoint the director general (DG) of Rescue 1122 for life, do so, but the constitutional and legal requirements for an individual cannot be ignored.” He said there was no such precedent of legislation for an individual in the history of the assembly. He said it was a money bill in the context of amendments to the Punjab Emergency Council Bill which had to be approved by the cabinet before tabling it in the assembly.

"A bill to amend the Rescue 1122 Act cannot be brought as a private member's bill. The constitutional requirements regarding the amendments of Rescue 1122 are being met and the appointment of the DG Rescue 1122 has also been notified," he said. The minister told the House that the order for giving the administrative control of Rescue 1122 from the Home Department to the Services &General Administration Department had also been issued.

Earlier, Pervaiz Elahi said the proceedings of the session would not commence until the Punjab Emergency Services Bill wasn't included in the agenda of the assembly proceedings. Opposition members also chanted slogans in favour of Elahi. Khadija Umer of the PMLQ is the mover of the bill.