ISLAMABAD, January 3: Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar said on Thursday that the federal government has not been restrained from building hospitals in the provinces adding that the “parliament did not debate on the 18th Amendment before passing it.”
In a hearing conducted at the Supreme Court regarding the transfer of trust hospitals after the 18th Amendment, the CJP stated that if a building is located in a province, it doesn’t mean that it has been transferred to that province.
“All over the world amendments are debated upon before being passed as laws,” he remarked adding that no debate took place on the 18th Amendment.
Rollback of 18th amendment to be disastrous: Rabbani
“How can our parliament approve the 18th Amendment without any debate?” CJP questioned.
Raza Rabbani told the court that though it was true that the amendment bill was not debated much upon, the draft for the bill took nine months to prepare.
The CJP during the hearing stated that the federal government had not been restrained after the 18th Amendment from building hospitals in provinces or cities and if the provinces fail to provide facilities to the people, the government should step in.
“How is this possible that the federal government builds hospitals and leaves it at the hands of the provinces to destroy,” Justice Nisar remarked.
Rabbani stated that the court should ask the parliament to resolve this issue.
To this, Justice Ijazul Hasan responded saying that the parliament has performed its duty, now it’s the court’s responsibility to interpret the law.-Agencies
