ISLAMABAD: PPP Senator Mian Raza Rabbani on Friday questioned “intentions” of the caretaker government in reforming the Cabinet Committee for Disposal of Legislative Cases (CCLC), saying it was beyond the mandate of the interim set-up.

In a statement, Mr Rabbani said that reforming the Cabinet Committee for Disposal of Legislative Cases through a notification of the Cabinet Division on Aug 23 was in violation of the scheme of the Constitution and Section 230 of the Elections Act, 2017, with reference to the caretaker government.

“The mandate of the caretaker government/cabinet is limited and cannot exceed day-to-day affairs and does not include the examination of Acts passed by Parliament,” the PPP leader said.

Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Thursday reconstituted three key committees of the federal cabinet, including a downgrade of the all-important Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) with a greater focus on Chinese investments and the CCLC.

PPP leader laments body has been assigned ‘judicial role’; ‘unelected govt’ will judge past parliament’s competence

The CCLC consists of five federal ministers and four special invitees, including the Attorney General for Pakistan.

The committee has defined four terms of reference (TORs), one of which mandates it to look at the recently passed legislation to see if it conforms to the Constitution, is in conflict with existing laws and above all if the parliament was competent to pass them.

“The committee has been assigned the role of the judiciary and an unelected government will sit in judgement over the constitutional competence of the Parliament,” Mr Rabbani said.

“This also raises very serious questions as to the intentions of the caretakers,” he added.

PM Kakar reconstituted the CCLC with a slightly reduced membership. To be led by minister for law and justice, the committee would now comprise ministers for information, planning, religious affairs and IT and telecom.

Earlier, in the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government, the committee, led by law minister, comprised ministers for interior, water resources, board of investment, parliamentary affairs and economic affairs.

The Attorney General for Pakistan and secretaries for cabinet division and law and justice would remain unchanged as special invitees while an additional secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office has now been added to the committee.

Surprisingly, the new committee would also be responsible for examining whether fresh legislation or amendments in the existing laws are in line with the Constitutional scheme, not in violation of any existing law, and fall within the mandate of Parliament, and to examine the contents of fresh legislations and rules as well as amendments to the existing laws/rules, and give its recommendations as to whether the same is in line with the policy of the government and constitutional and legislative scheme.

Under the terms of reference, in case the CCLC decides to amend the proposal of the sponsoring division from a policy perspective, and the same is agreed to by the sponsoring division in the CCLC meeting, the amended proposal shall be placed before the cabinet for ratification and in case of disagreement between the sponsoring division and CCLC on a policy matter, the points of view of both shall be placed before the cabinet for a decision.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2023