The Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services (PIPS) in collaboration with Mustehkam Parlimaan (MuP) – a project funded by European Union, organised a two-day comprehensive National Workshop on Effective Legislation: Post Legislative Scrutiny and Delegated Legislation for the Honourable Members of the National Parliament and Provincial Assemblies of Pakistan on 20th and 21st August, 2024 at PIPS, Islamabad. The aim of the workshop was to orient the participants about the knowledge and skills required to critically evaluate legislative outcomes and the role of delegated powers in law-making process.
Day 01: Tuesday, 20th August, 2024
The workshop commenced with the recitation of the Holy Quran. Dr. Syed Pervaiz Abbas, Deputy Team Lead – MuP, delivered opening remarks followed by Ms. Samer Awais, Director General Parliamentary Development Programme & Coordination – PIPS, who presented the Programme Overview. Subsequently, Mr. Muhammad Rashid Mafzool Zaka, Executive Director – PIPS formally welcomed the participants. While highlighting the role of parliament, Mr. Zaka quoted the Honourable Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of the nation, stating “The first duty of a Government is to maintain law and order, so that the life, property and religious beliefs of its subjects are fully protected by the State”.
Mr. Ali Imran, Senior Adviser Legislative Affairs – MuP, in the frst session of the workshop highlighted the fundamental role of the Parliament: Representation, Legislation, Oversight, and Appropriation & Approval of Budgets. Mr. Muhammad Mushtaq, Special Secretary, National Assembly Secretariat, and Ms. Rabeea Anwar, Joint Secretary, Senate Secretariat, were next to speak in a panel discussion who apprised the participants about the legislative process from a bill to an act.
Afterwards, Ms. Rabeea Anwar delivered a series of presentations on Evaluating Legislation at Pre and Post-Legislative Level along with Conceptualizing Post-Legislative Scrutiny process. She stated that evaluating legislation both before and after was crucial to ensure that laws were effective, fair, and achieved their intended goals. During the last session of the day, she shared some international practices that were currently followed in different parts of the world.
Day 02: Wednesday, 21st August, 2024
On the day two, Ms. Rabeea Anwar enlightened the participants on the significance of stakeholder engagement in PLS and its institutionalization. Recommending the way forward for Pakistan, she proposed the introduction of provisions for mandatory PLS in the Rules of Procedure and establishment of dedicated committees or empowerment of existing committees. The participants were then divided into 6 groups and were tasked with proposing a PLS plan against a specific law. During group presentations, participants were provided with constructive feedback to enhance their comprehension of the process of PLS.
The afternoon session was facilitated by Sheikh Sarfraz Ahmed, Senior Legislative Consultant, on Delegated Legislation (DL), who described DL as all sort of subordinate or secondary legislation or statutory instruments including rules, regulations, bylaws, schemes, warrants, notifications, orders, removal of difficulty order, statutory guidelines, statutes issued by universities, policy issued under a statute and any other statutory instrument framed and issued or being framed for issuance, in exercise of the powers conferred under a statute.
The last component of the workshop was a knowledge sharing session with the seasoned parliamentarians, Honourable Senators: Farhatullah Babar and Muhammad Mohsin Khan Leghari, who shared their experiences about the role of a parliamentarian in post-legislative scrutiny and delegated legislation. The session was moderated by Mr. Ali Imran. Mr. Babar stated that legislation gave direction to the state and society and recommended oversight of delegated legislation by parliamentarians. He praised the Senate of Pakistan for establishing a committee on delegated legislation. Mr. Leghari advocated for awareness among parliamentarians on PLS and DL and emphasized the responsibility of parliamentarians in legislation and making the executive accountable. The participants found value in the insight shared by the panelists.
The two-day comprehensive workshop concluded with the distribution of certificates amongst the participants. Ms. Margie Cook, Team Lead Mustehkam Parlimaan (Mup) on behalf of MuP thanked facilitators and acknowledged PIPS for hosting such a thought provoking event. The programme ended with closing remarks by the Executive Director PIPS, Mr. Muhammad Rashid Mafzool Zaka who emphasized on importance of learning and teaching with love and hard work. He ended his talk by sharing a short story on the award of title Quaid-e-Azam to Muhammad Ali Jinnah and concluded the workshop with a formal vote of thanks.