During a Senate session with a record-breaking 122 items on the agenda, a total of 33 bills aimed at establishing higher education institutions were introduced.
Out of these, two bills were successfully passed, while the remaining ones were sent to the relevant standing committee for further review. These bills had previously been approved by the National Assembly, with an impressive 29 of them getting the green light in just one day.
Rana Tanveer Hussain, the Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training, strongly emphasized the importance of endorsing educational bills that had received the endorsement of the Higher Education Commission. The Senate smoothly approved two bills: “The Federal Ziauddin University Bill, 2023” by Senator Saleem Mandviwalla and “The Prime University of Nursing Sciences Technology Islamabad Bill, 2023” by Senator Naseebullah Bazai.
Additionally, the Senate gave the green signal to three bills put forth by Senators Hafiz Abdul Karim, Kamran Murtaza, and Shahdat Awan. These bills included: “The Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023,” “The Protection of Family Life and Wedlock Bill, 2023,” and “The Federal Public Service Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023.”
The Senate also unanimously passed the Civil Servants (Amendments) Bill, 2023. This bill ensures that high executive positions related to infrastructure, energy, communication, and construction projects in government organizations will only be held by civil servants from the Engineering Service of Pakistan or registered professional engineers. This is aimed at enhancing competence and public safety. Senator Engineer Rukhsana Zuberi introduced the bill, including a new provision that requires civil servants dealing with the specified sectors to be part of the Engineering Service of Pakistan and hold registration as a professional engineer.
