KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed ‘The Prohibition of Preparation, Manufacturing, Storage, Sale and Use of Gutka and Mainpuri (Amendment) Bill, 2021’ paving way for legal proceedings in the court of a first class judicial magistrate against those involved in this trade.

       According to the amendment bill, which was originally passed in Dec 2019, the suspects would now be tried in the court of first class judicial magistrate, instead of sessions court, and all such cases pending before sessions courts will be transferred to judicial magistrates.

       Under the amended bill, suspects could face up to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs200,000 if found guilty.

       “No person shall own, manage, operate or control any premises, place, equipment or machinery for the purpose of manufacture or production of gutka, mainpuri and its derivatives,” a clause of the bill read.

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       Bill amended to transfer all such cases from session courts to JMs

       It added that whosoever found involved in these offences, would have to undergo imprisonment which may extend to three years, but should not be less than one year along with a fine of Rs200,000.

       “In case of default of payment of fine, the accused shall undergo an additional imprisonment extending to six months and in case of subsequent offence, shall be punished with imprisonment of five to 10 years along with a fine of Rs500,000,” it added.

       Another clause of the bill read that court might also order forfeiture of the convict’s assets derived from the business related to manufacturing and sale of gutka and other derivatives.

       The act also authorises an officer — not below the rank of sub-inspector — to enter any premises without a search warrant from a magistrate so as to “not to give the suspect an opportunity for the concealment of evidences”, on credible information and with prior permission of the SSP concerned.

       The officer would also have to face imprisonment of up to three years along with Rs300,000 fine for vexatious entry.

       Breast-feeding law

       The house also unanimously passed ‘The Sindh Protection and Promotion of Breast-feeding and Young Children Nutrition Bill 2023’.

       “It is expedient to ensure safe and adequate nutrition for infants and young children up to the age of 36 months by promoting, protecting and supporting breast-feeding, promoting healthy diets to prevent obesity and non-communicable diseases and by regulating the marketing and promotion of designated products including breast milk substitutes, and of feeding bottles, valves for feeding bottles, nipple shields, teats and pacifiers,” the preamble of the bill read.

       The government would also establish with a mandate of framing regulations, advising standards of designated products, and proposing guidelines to the government to establish an effective monitoring system as per the relevant WHO/Unicef protocol.

       During the session, ‘The Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2023’ and ‘The Sindh Mass Transit Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2023’ were introduced and sent to the standing committees concerned for further deliberations.

       The house unanimously adopted a resolution tabled by PPP’s Sohrab Sarki to pay homage to former provincial minister Sardar Manzoor Ali Phanwer.

       Earlier, at the outset of the proceedings, the house echoed with the nomination of opposition leader with Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani asking the opposition members to move on to elect the opposition leader as the time was getting short for the exercise.

       The lawmakers were also amused by the interesting remarks of the Speaker, who wished that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s Khawaja Izharul Hasan sit on the chair of the opposition leader. “You are very experienced and remained the best leader of the opposition in the assembly,” he said.

       When the Speaker noticed that the Grand Democratic Alliance member, Nand Kumar was sitting on another member’s seat, he pointed out that the lawmaker was sitting on a wrong seat.

       Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawala jokingly said that the GDA member wanted to grab the seat of the opposition leader.

       “But I personally think that it is better if a woman was elected,” he added ostensibly referring to Muttahida’s Parliamentary Leader Rana Ansar.

       Later, the house was adjourned till Friday.

       Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2023