The government has decided to transfer powers for dealing with Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) from the Federal Cabinet to the Prime Minister and the Minister for Maritime Affairs.
The government has introduced a bill to replace the words ‘Federal Government’ with ‘Prime Minister and Minister concerned with Maritime Affairs’ in the National Shipping Ordinance 1979. Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Syed Ali Haider Zaidi proposed the bill reasoning that the federal cabinet was having the powers to resolve matters which should be decided by the Maritime Affairs Ministry.
“The Ordinance confers powers to the Federal Government which are meant to be disposed of at Ministry’s level,” stated the statement and objective of the bill. The minister cited the decision of the Al-Mustafa Impex case in the Supreme Court, in which the Federal Government had been defined as the Federal Cabinet.
“Hence, disposal of routine matters in Pakistan National Shipping Corporation take lengthy procedure and loss of government exchequer for presenting the case before the Federal Cabinet,” the bill stated.
The new bill will be called Pakistan National Shipping Ordinance 1979 (Amendments) Bill 2020. Once it will be passed, the PNSC matters will be decided by the Prime Minister or Minister of Maritime Affairs.
