NAVEED BUTT
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Wednesday passed ‘The Corporate Rehabilitation Bill, 2017’ to provide a mechanism for rehabilitation of distressed companies for sustainable growth of corporate sector and reduction in non-performing loans.
Two other bills including ‘The Marine Insurance Bill, 2017’ and ‘The Federal Employees Benevolent Fund and Group Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2017’ were presented and passed by the Lower House.
Minister of State for Finance and Economic Affairs, Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan tabled ‘The Corporate Rehabilitation Bill, 2017’ with three minor amendments in the Lower House of the Parliament. The House passed the Bill with majority, while the Senate has already passed the bill.
According to objectives of the bill, a comprehensive legal framework is now urgently needed to rehabilitate distressed companies and business in the country. The bill provides mechanism for rehabilitation of distressed companies which is need of the hour for sustainable growth of corporate sector. The Bill will put the economy on the fast track and result in reduction of non-performing loans.
The bill provides an equal opportunity to the companies and its creditors to come up for the rehabilitation proceedings of the companies before the high court(s). The bill requires that submission of rehabilitation plan will be mutually agreed upon by the shareholders of the companies and their creditors. In this regard, the high court shall appoint insolvency experts who will undertake mediation between companies and their creditors for determination of liabilities of the creditors.
The specialized features and unique requirements of ‘Corporate Rehabilitation Bill’ necessitate the promulgation of an independent and comprehensive piece of legislation.
Minister for Commerce and Textile, Muhammad Pervaiz Malik tabled ‘The Marine Insurance Bill, 2017’ in the House for passage. The House passed the bill with majority. The Senate has already passed the bill.
The objects of the bill include: (i) to encourage and promote marine insurance sector in Pakistan; (ii) to provide a legal framework for regulation of marine insurance in the country; (iii) to remove contradictions and similarities with other laws existing in the filed and: (iv) to provided rules for construction of interpretations of marine insurance policies.
Federal Minister of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Chaudhry Muhammad Barjees Tahir placed ‘The Federal Employees Benevolent Fund and Group Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2017.’
The objective of the bill is to give effect to the decision of the Board of Trustees to provide additional monthly benevolent grant and lump sum grant to the family members of the employees who die during service in security related incidents.
Responding to a calling attention notice, the minister of state for finance said that Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) is conducting a nationwide survey to update the National Socio-Economic Registry, after which new cards will be issued to the eligible beneficiaries.
Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan said that currently the survey is in pilot phase and after its completion, the next phase of National Rollout will begin. He said that so far the survey in 14 districts of Pakistan has been completed. A third-party evaluation will be done to check any discrepancy in the survey, he added.
The House also started debate on the situation arising out of rape and brutal murder of seven-year-old girl Zainab in Kasur.
Taking part in the discussion, Sahibzada Yaqoob urged the government to take steps to prevent recurring of such incidents in future.
Shahida Rehmani stressed the need for stringent legislation and effective implementation of laws to discourage such incidents. Dr Fauzia Hameed said that rape cases should be heard in anti-terrorism courts. Dr Muhammad Afzal Dhandla said that politics should not be done on such incidents.
Earlier, when the session started, the deputy speaker suspended the proceedings of the House for more than half an hour when an opposition member pointed out quorum.
