An Official Secrets Act Amendment Bill which was passed by the National Assembly on Tuesday, ran into difficulties on Wednesday when the Senate refused to pass it, making the Chairman refer it to the relevant standing committee. It must be noted that it is virtually standard procedure for ay bill to be introduced in the House and then referred to the relevant standing committee, on which all parties are represented, for a close clausewise examination, Generally, the bill as recommended by the standing committee is then passed by the House. Two other bills, one amending the Federal Urdu University Act, the other amending the Higher Education Commission Act, were also referred to committee. Whether the Official Secrets Act Amendment was bad or not, it did raise fears among Senators that it could be used against any opposition, for it gave the right to the intelligence agencies to raid suspects’ houses without warrants, and made disclosing identities of agency officials an offence.
Part of the problem seems to be the ignoring of legislative procedures. The Bill passed though the National Assembly without going through the committee stage, and faced the same fort of opposition there. That both MNAs and Senators complained that they had not been provided copies of the bill, reflects badly on the House Secretariats as well as the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry.
They could claim overwork, for the government is following tradition in bringing forward all those bills the National Assembly should have passed, but had not. Most bills are not dramatic high-profile laws, but workaday changes to existing law, and sometimes a new law, which originated in a draft law by a government department, getting Cabinet approval after the minister was persuaded to take it there. The Bill is then introduced, and then usually referred to committee. When it is reported out of committee, it is then passed, and transmitted to the other House. That House follows the same procedure. If it passes a second version of the Bill, then thast version goes to a joint sitting, after which it goes to the President for assent. This is clearly a complex procedure, and it was short-circuited in the National Assembly, especially by the omission of the committee stage. Governnments have developed an unfortunate habit of not introducing legislation at the beginning of a tenure, and then scramble for lost time at the end, much as teachers try to complete syllabi before the end of term. Legislators in both Houses complained of not being provided copies of the bills, and thus being made to legislate sight unseen.
