The Senate on Monday passed three bills including the Guardians and Wards (Amendment) Bill 2020, giving mothers the right to custody of minor children in case of separation between parents.
Senator Farooq Hamid Naek moved the bill to amend the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 [The Guardians and Wards] (Amendment) Bill, 2020, saying that although superior courts were already extending the right to custody to mothers but it was not in the legislative form.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan suggested the House to incorporate the recommendations of Council of Islamic Ideology in the proposed amendment to make it a more effective. He was of the view that the Ulema from all schools of thought had representation in the CII, so their recommendations should be incorporated to avoid any hurdle in smooth implementation of the legislation.
After passage of the bill from the Senate, the mover said it would go to the National Assembly for further consideration, so the government should propose their amendments there for better legislation. Naek said the legislation would ensure custody of male and female child to divorcee/widow mothers, upto the age of 7 and 16 years respectively.
Under the bill, a ‘mother’ would be entitled to being appointed guardian of minor where father is either deceased or unfit to be guardian in the opinion of the court. Following which, Deputy Chairman Mirza Muhammad Afridi presented the bill with clause-by-clause reading that was passed with majority vote.
The House also passed the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2021, moved by Senator Shahdat Awan. The amendment would authorize an Assistant Sub-Inspector or equivalent on duty for entry, search, seizure and arrest at a public place, as “due to paucity of time apprehension of narcotics being removed or the culprit having a chance to escape may occur.”
The House also passed the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill-2021, moved by Senator Shahadat Awan, unanimously which was aimed at separating judiciary from the executive through substitution of the special judicial magistrates with judicial magistrates designated for the trial of petty offences in the summary courts.
Under the provision of section 14 and 14A of the Criminal Procedure Code, the Special Judicial Magistrates being representative of the executive, were empowered to exercise judicial functions and conduct summary trials of minor offences which are in contravention of the contours of separation of judiciary from executive as safeguarded in the Constitution of Pakistan, according to the bill’s statements of objects and reasons.
The Senate also referred eight bills to the relevant committees for further deliberations.
The bills included the Prevention and Rehabilitation of Vagrants Bill, 2022, the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the Public Finance Management (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the China Pakistan Economic Corridor Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the Right to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the Public Private Partnership Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and the Special Technology Zones Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2022.
The Senate meanwhile unanimously passed a resolution recommending the government to explore alternate methods, including the rainwater harvest system, on priority and to take necessary steps to bridge the gap between growing demand and supply of water in the federal capital.
Senator Seemee Ezdi in her resolution expressed concern over the poor water distribution and management system, scarcity of potable water and depleting supply capacity of Simly and Khanpur dams causing severe hardships to the residents of Islamabad. The House also adopted another resolution moved by Senator Shahadat Awan, asking ministries/divisions to immediately publish their respective updated laws, rules and regulations on their websites for the use of general public.
