• Awaiting presidential assent, law advocates six-month jail term, Rs1m for contemners
• PPP, JI senators nearly come to blows amid heated exchange on Karachi mayoral polls

ISLAMABAD: A bill proposing a six-month punishment for contempt of parliament or any of its committees, sailed through the Senate on Monday, as heated debate between PPP lawmakers and a Jamaat-i-Islami senator over the recently-held Karachi mayoral elections nearly led to a physical altercation.

The ‘Contempt of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) Bill’, passed by the National Assembly in May, was introduced through a supplementary agenda and was not referred to the standing committee either, before being passed by the lawmakers through a voice vote.

Now, the proposed law will be sent to the president for his assent to make it an act of parliament.

It was moved by four senators from Balochistan and one from Punjab, including Kauda Babar, Naseebullah Bazai, Sarfraz Bugti, Prince Ahmed Umer Ahmedzai, and Rana Mahmoodul Hassan.

Soon after the bill landed in the house, State Minister for Law Shahadat Awan told the chair that the National Assembly has already passed the bill unanimously and it should be voted upon without being sent to the standing committee concerned.

The bill comes at a time when a battle over supremacy is going on between the parliament and the judiciary, with lawmakers accusing the judiciary of interfering in the domain of the executive and endorsing military rules in the past.

Five-member contempt panel

Under the proposed law, the parliamentary contempt committee to be formed by the NA speaker will include five members: three from the NA and two from Senate.

The National Assembly secretary will act as the secretary of the contempt committee. The proposed law empowers the speaker to constitute the contempt committee within thirty days of coming into force of this act.

Two members each from the NA and the Senate are to be nominated by the leaders of the house and opposition in both houses and one member of the NA is to be nominated by the speaker.

The committee will have the powers to award punishments by a majority decision. “Whoever commits contempt under this act, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months or with fine which may extend to one million rupees or with both,” reads the bill.

“The Contempt Committee shall have powers as vested in civil courts under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, for enforcing the attendance of any person and compelling the production of documents.”

All proceedings before the committee shall be quasi-judicial and any document produced and evidence recorded by the committee shall not be admissible as evidence in any court.

Section 10 of the bill states that any decision of a house shall be executed and enforced by district magistrate within whose territorial jurisdiction the accused is temporarily residing under relevant provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898.

Any appeal against the decision under this law may be filed within 30 days before the speaker or the chairman. The privilege committee of either house shall prepare a report within 60 days with recommendations on the matter of breach of privilege or contempt of parliament and its report shall be laid in the respective house for its decision to refer the matter to the contempt committee.

According to the bill, “A person is guilty of contempt under this act, if he is found to have willfully breached the privilege of a member, a House or a committee; violated any law guarantying the immunities or privileges of the members; failed or refused to obey any order or direction of a House or a committee; refused to give evidence or recorded false statement before a committee; attempted or influenced a witness either by intimidation, threat or use of force to prevent him from providing evidence, producing documents or appearing before the committee; and failed to provide any documents or submitted tempered documents before a House or a committee.”

Karachi mayoral poll

The controversy over the mayoral elections in Karachi also echoed in the Senate on Monday with the JI accusing the PPP of stealing the election and the PPP insisting that it had won the seat fair and square.

Senator Mushtaq Ahmad and Bahramand Tangi also exchanged hot words, forcing the chairman to switch off their microphones. Senator Tangi also used crass language against the JI senator and at one point even tried to assault him, but some colleagues intervened and prevented the ugly scene.

The war of words started after the JI senator supported a motion moved by Senator Taj Haider asking the federal government to allow electric buses to ply on Lyari Expressway.

He, however, alleged that the PPP rigged the mayor polls. His claim evoked a strong response from the PPP leaders, including Shahadat Awan, Waqar Mehdi, and Bahramand Tangi. They said PPP candidate Murtaza Wahab had secured 104 votes against 86 votes bagged by the JI candidate.

Earlier, Senator Taj Haider in his motion assailed the National Highway Authority (NHA) for refusing to allow bus service on the Lyari Expressway, saying that 75 electric buses to be charged with solar energy had already been imported by the Sindh government.

He said the initiative aimed to provide convenient and accessible transport facilities to the people of Karachi and it would address the long-standing issue of inadequate public transportation.

The Sindh government’s plan to launch a Peoples Bus Service on Lyari Expressway hit a snag after the federal authorities argued that the 16.5-kilometre-long road “was not meant” for public transport operations, as such initiative would increase the risks for vehicles plying on the Expressway and adversely affect the facility.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2023