ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi has refused to sign and returned 13 bills approved by both houses of parliament including the one aimed at empowering police to arrest a person without a warrant.
According to sources, the president has sent back the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2023 without his signature, a piece of legislation that gave additional powers to police.
The other bills returned to parliament for reconsideration include the Higher Education Commission (Amendment) Bill; National Skills University (Amendment) Bill; Import Export (Amendment) Bill; and Pakistan Institute of Management Sciences and Technology Bill.
President Alvi also sent back the Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals’ Bill; Newspapers, News Agencies and Books Registration Bill; Federal Public Service Commission (Amendment) Bill; Federal Urdu University (Amendment) Bill; and NFC Institute Multan (Amendment) Bill.
The National Commission for Human Development (Amendment) Bill; National Institute for Technology Bill; and Horizon University Bill were returned without signature as well.
However, the president gave his seal of approval to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) Amendment Bill, 2023.
Dr Alvi approved the bill under Article 75 of the Constitution, according to a statement issued by the Presidency.
Almost half of the returned bills were passed by the National Assembly on July 27 this year in a single day with only 15 lawmakers belonging to the ruling alliance present in the House.
Comments are closed.