ISLAMABAD – Central Directorate of National Savings Director Schemes Afzal Tahir told the Senate Standing Committee on Law, Justice and Human Rights on Saturday that the directorate had offered the government to fund major development projects, such as the construction of Munda Dam and Bhasha Dam. “Several meetings had been held on the subject and the government has shown a positive response to our offer,” he added. The Senate Standing Committee on Law approved the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2010 as was passed by the National Assembly, to provide relief to the accused languishing in jails.
The National Assembly had already passed the said bill which amended the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) 1898. Statement of objects and reasons said that trials of accused persons witnessed delay due to pendency and huge backlog in the courts, causing the accused languish in jails for indefinite periods. The object of the bill is to provide relief to them and grant them bail after two years in case of offences punishable with death and after one year in case of offences not punishable with death. This period is further being reduced to one year and six months respectively in case of female accused.
The committee deferred a government bill titled “The Criminal Law (amendment) Bill, 2010” and a private member’s bill titled “The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2010” introduced by the Jamaat-e-Islami senators for the next meeting.
