In a judgment by a two-member bench, the Supreme Court has once again limited the promulgation of ordinances solely to emergency situations. The federal government, according to the judgment is only permitted to promulgate an ordinance if the subject fall with the Federal Legislative List, if neither House of Parliament is in session, and when circumstances exist which render it necessary to take immediate action. It is unfortunate that governments usually ignore the last, and promulgate ordinances on matters in which there is no urgency and for which they could wait. The present government has been an egregious abuser of this privilege, and it was pointed out to the Court that the present PTI government had issued no less than 54 ordinances since assuming office. This has been because while the PTI has a National Assembly majority, it does not have one in the Senate, thus it cannot legislate except by ordinance.
The PTI does not seem to regard Parliament as the fount of legislation, and instead of putting in the hard work of not just piloting legislation through the Houses, but also making sufficient compromises with the opposition to ensure its ability to pass required legislation, it prefers to issue ordinance after ordinance.
The Supreme Court refrained from declaring the practice illegal, and it seems that the government wants that to happen. Ordinances allow the Executive branch to legislate without the involvement of Parliament. This is despite Parliament making the majority party the Executive because it can get legislation passed. For a long time, governments would bypass Parliament (or the Provincial Assemblies) by ordinances. When an ordinance was about to lapse, the government would blithely reissue it. The Supreme Court had to ban this practice. The PTI (and other parties) must remember that Parliament is a legislature, not merely an electoral college for the Executive. It is paradoxical that one of the criticisms leveled against it is that its members do not legislate enough. Before the courts step in further, this government should remember that the ability to legislate allows it to be the Executive. It must not wait for the courts to take action.
