KARACHI: Sindh Cabinet under the chairmanship of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Tuesday took important decisions, including appointment of executive director of National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) and approved some draft bills and referred the same to the assembly.
The cabinet meeting at New Sindh Secretariat was told that the NICVD had established new satellites in various districts and its director was retiring on Wednesday, therefore a new director may be appointed on the recommendation of the selection committee.
The cabinet was told that the selection committee had recommended a panel of two professors namely Prof. Dr Nadeem Qamar on the top and Prof. Dr Syed Nadeem Rizvi on the second.
The cabinet unanimously approved the appointment of Dr Nadeem Qamar for another four years and directed the secretary services to issue notification of his appointment.
The draft laws approved by the Sindh Cabinet are as follows:
a) Sindh Home-based Workers Act, 2018 : The home-based workforce of the province involved in manufacturing and post -manufacturing process such as garment and hosiery, shoe making, embroidery, carpet weaving, handlooms, wood work, bangle making, dates cleaning and packing, pottery, handicrafts and others are on piece rates.
The chief minister said that the government believes that the provincial policy on Home-Based Workers is inspired by the vision of egalitarian society, which is free of exploitation and coercion and where all citizens are equal before law and enjoy equal rights to live with dignity and self-respect.
The draft law says that every registered home-based worker shall be entitled to social protection, medical benefits, grants and other privileges as available to a person falling within the meaning of workers and workmen as envisaged in Sindh Industrial Act, 2013 etc.
Under the law survey the place of work of home-based workers for identifying and removing the hazardous conditions.
b) Establishment of Sindh Environmental Protection Council: The cabinet approved establishment of a 47-member council headed by the minister of environment while secretaries of all the departments, divisional commissioners, the dean, the faculty of Plant Protection Agriculture University Tando Jam and two MPAs.
The functions of the council include to approve comprehensive provincial environmental and sustainable development policies and ensure their implementation within the framework of a conservation strategy and sustainable development plan.
The cabinet also approved establishment of different committees such as industries, agriculture and others.
c) Chairman Sindh Environmental Protection Tribunal: The cabinet on the recommendation of chief justice of Sindh High Court appointed Justice (retd) Sadiq Hussain Bhatti as chairman of the tribunal for a period of four years. The cabinet also approved appointment of two members of the tribunal, Abdul rauf Memon, deputy director (Tech) B-18 and Advocate Mohammad Arif as member legal.
d) Sindh Industries Registration Act-2018: The silent features of the act include registration/de-registration of industrial undertaking; survey/inspection of industries; power to call information in public interest or order any survey or inspection; monitoring industrial waste and pre-treatment of effluents. The cabinet approved the act and referred to the assembly.
e) Amendments in Motor Vehicles Ordinance, 1965: The cabinet was informed that the ICRC-SZABIST organized consultative session to discuss the amendments while considering the delays in shifting the affected in ambulances due to rush of traffic, the ambulance stuck up in traffic jam and did not get clear track/ways to the hospitals, resultantly the injured expired. The provisions of the Motor Vehicles Rules were scrutinized for affecting the desired amendments in existing provincial motor vehicles laws.
The proposed amendments were made in the definition of `ambulance’. `The ambulance means a vehicle designed or adopted primarily for the purpose for carriage of sick, wounded or invalid persons or animals and registered as such with the health authority.
Emergency Vehicle has been defined as motor vehicle used only as law enforcement vehicle, fire-brigade or ambulance to relieve distress. A new word `obstruction’ has been added in the amendment which means any action by a person, vehicle or otherwise that would hamper, hinder or impede the progress of another vehicle.
In this way Section 82-A of the existing law has been amended as `duty to make way for emergency vehicle’. It means a driver of a vehicle or any other person, to the extent practicable, shall slow down, move to the left or otherwise, make all possible efforts to give clear uninterrupted and safe passage to an emergency rescue vehicle or an ambulance with active warning lights and siren.
f) Creation of Ziauddin University Board of Higher Secondary Education: The cabinet in its meeting in December 2017 had reached some consensus that there should be some essential requirements for Private Education Board. The cabinet approved organizational, legal, financial and other related formalities and requirements, including the submission of a feasibility report are outlined in the general institutional requirements- Pro-farma.
These guidelines pertain to registration, availability of infrastructure and adequate financial resources, examination staff, examination criteria, affiliation criteria, fee structure, quality assurance, students supervision and assessment etc
g) Regularisation of Contract Veterinary Doctors: The assembly has passed the bill for regularization of vet and sent it to the governor for his assent. The governor has made some observations to revisit the bill and ensure that upon regularisation, the veterinary doctors may not be transferred from their initial place of appointments till the position on which they are working is duly filled by another veterinary doctor. The cabinet made necessary amendment in the bill and re-referred to the assembly.
h) The cabinet discussed Draft Sindh Regularization of Contract Paid & Work Charged LBOD employees Act, 2018: Under the proposed law the services of 2601 employees of LBOD would be regularized. The cabinet approved the draft and referred it to the assembly.
i) The health department presented a draft bill before the cabinet for regularization of doctors and other para-medical staff appointed on contract basis. The cabinet formed a committee under Jam Khan Shoro with secretary health and secretary Law as its members with the directions to meeting tonight and go through clauses of the draft bill so that doctors and other staff could ben regularized.
k) The Cabinet on the recommendation of the Chief Justice of Sindh High Court offered appointment of Imran Malik advocate, as Judge ATC Khairpur which is lying vacant while the cabinet allowed Manzoor Ahmed Qazi Judge ATC Naushehroferoze to complete his remaining term.
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