Updated: Monday October 17, 2016/AlEthnien
Muharram 16, 1438/Somavara
Asvina 25, 1938, at 09:22:34 PM
The Publication of Laws of
ACT NO. XIII OF 2016
An Act to ensure publication of the text of the laws
of
WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for publication of the
text of the laws of
AND WHEREAS the Provincial Assemblies of Balochistan, Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa,
It is hereby enacted as follows:---
1. Short title, extent, commencement and
application.—(1) This Act may be called the Publication of Laws of Pakistan
Act, 2016.
(2) It extends to the whole of
(3) It shall come into force at once.
(4) This Act shall not apply to
publication of laws of
2.
Definitions.—In this Act, unless
there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,---
(a) “bookseller”
means a bookseller who predominantly sells law books, with or without
commentary, containing laws of
(b) “Cell”
means the Laws of Pakistan Cell to be established under section 6:
(c) “Director”
means the Director of the Cell;
(d) “law of
Pakistan” means a law passed under the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of
Pakistan, or by or under the authority of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) or any
of the Provincial Assemblies, which is published in the Gazette of Pakistan or
Gazette of any Province and includes principal and subordinate legislation and
any other statutory instrument which is published in the Gazette of Pakistan or
Gazette of any Province:
Provided that the commentary portion of any law of
(e) “prescribed”
means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(f) “public
sector organization” means a concerned ministry, division, department, attached
department, statutory body or an autonomous body of the Federal Government
under the Rules of Business, 1973, a department, statutory body, an attached
department or autonomous body of a Provincial Government under Rules of
Business of the respective Provincial Government, a local government and
Supreme Court of Pakistan, Federal Shariat Court or a High Court to the extent
of Rules and Orders published under the authority of the Supreme Court, Federal
Shariat Court or a High Court;
(g) “publisher”
means a natural person or a juristic person who publishes or engages another
publisher, within or outside
(h) “reviewer”
means a person who reviews a law of
3. Registration of publishers.—(1) A publisher shall not publish any law of
(a) he is
registered with the Cell;
(b) his
proposed publication is reviewed by the Cell; and
(c) the Cell
has certified that his proposed publication is accurate and updated till the
date of issuance of certificate.
(2) The Cell shall, on payment of prescribed fee and
fulfillment of the prescribed conditions, register a publisher.
4. Exemption from registration.—A public sector organization and a Legislature
shall be exempt from registration under this Act but the head of the public
sector organization or the Secretary of the Senate or the National Assembly or
a Provincial Assembly, as the case may be, or any officer authorized by the
head of the public sector organization, Senate, National Assembly or a
Provincial Assembly, shall execute and publish a certificate of accuracy of the
contents of a law of Pakistan published by the public sector organization or a
Legislature and the certificate shall contain the date when the law of Pakistan
is last updated.
5. Compilation of authentic versions
of laws of Pakistan.—(1)
The Federal Government shall, to the extent of Federal laws, compile and
maintain an updated and accurate version of the laws of Pakistan and
translation thereof in Urdu, both in paper and electronic form, which shall,
besides other purposes, be used to determine the accuracy of the material
submitted by a publisher for review under this Act.
(2) Each Provincial Government shall,
to the extent of Provincial laws of the respective Province, compile and
maintain an updated and accurate version of the laws of Pakistan and
translation thereof In Urdu and Provincial languages, both in paper and
electronic form, which shall, besides other purposes, be used to determine the
accuracy of the material submitted by a publisher for review under this Act.
(3) The Federal Government and each
Provincial Government shall ensure the safe custody of the Gazettes of Pakistan
and Gazettes of the respective Province containing laws of
6. Cell.—(1) The Federal Government shall, by notification in
the official Gazette, establish a Cell to be known as Laws of Pakistan Cell.
(2) The Director, Deputy Directors and
Assistant Directors shall be collectively known as the Cell:---
Provided that the Director as head of
the Cell shall perform functions of the Cell:---
Provided further that the powers of the
Cell under clauses (e), (f) and (g) of section 7 shall not be exercised unless
the Director, two Deputy Directors and two Assistant Directors, by a vote of
majority, decide to exercise such power.
(3) The Federal Government shall
establish as many offices of the Cell throughout
7.
Powers and functions of the Cell.—The
Cell shall,---
(a) register
publishers of laws of
(b) regulate
the publication of the standard translation of laws of
(c) review
every proposed publication of a law of
(d) issue
certificate of accuracy to the effect that the contents of a law of
(e) seize
any unauthorized publication of a law of
(f) impose
fines as provided in section 19;
(g)
de-register a publisher or initiate prosecution under this Act;
(h) ensure
that, after the commencement of this Act, no bookseller sells any publication
containing a law of
(i) perform
any other function which is incidental to above functions or as may be
prescribed.
8. Review of publications.—(1) The Cell shall, on payment of a prescribed fee,
review a proposed publication of a law of Pakistan submitted by a registered
publisher and subject to rules, the Cell shall, within the maximum period of
twenty working days from the date of submission of publication or payment of
full fee, whichever is later, complete the review, correct errors and issue certificate
of accuracy of the publication as on a specified date:---
Provided that if certificate of
accuracy is not issued within the stipulated period, it shall be deemed to have
been issued by the Cell and thereafter if any error is found in any law of
(2) If text of a
publication of a law of
(3) After review of a publication, the
Cell shall retain the authenticated copy of the publication in safe custody and
shall, subject to payment of remaining fee, if any, provide a copy of the
authenticated copy of the publication to publisher for publication.
9. Director.—(1) The Federal Government shall appoint a Director
of the Cell and as many Deputy Directors, Assistant Directors and other staff
of the Cell as may be necessary for efficient working of the Cell, on such
terms and conditions as may be specified.
(2) The Director and all the Deputy
Directors and Assistant Directors involved in the business of review shall be the
reviewers of the laws of Pakistan for the purposes of this Act and each
certificate of accuracy shall bear the name and signatures of the Director as
reviewer.
10. Delegation.—The Director may, with the approval of supervisory
committee and subject to such conditions and limitations as may be imposed by
the supervisory committee, delegate any of his functions to any other officer
of the Cell except the function to,---
(a) to sign
the certificate of accuracy;
(b)
constitute a committee or fill a vacancy in a committee; and
(c) approve
annual budget, audited accounts and annual report of the Cell.
11. Supervisory committee.—(1) The supervisory committee shall consist of,---
(2) The Director shall act as Secretary
of the supervisory committee.
(3) One fourth of the total members of
the supervisory committee shall constitute the quorum for a meeting of the
supervisory committee.
(4) In the absence of Chairperson, the
supervisory committee shall nominate a member to preside over the meeting.
(5) Except for the purposes of hearing
appeal under section 23 for which the supervisory committee may meet whenever
deemed necessary, the supervisory committee shall meet at least biannually.
(6) The Supervisory Committee, on
receipt of the annual report, may issue guidelines to the Cell for corrective
measures on efficient working of the Cell.
(7) The supervisory committee shall
supervise the functions of the Cell and in such supervision issue directions
which shall be binding on the Cell.
12. Annual report.—(1) The Cell shall, within three months of the close
of a financial year, submit to the Supervisory Committee an annual report.
(2)
The report shall consist of,---
(a) a
comprehensive statement of the work and activities of the Cell and the measures
taken for accurate publication of laws of
(b) future
plans and projects;
(c) the problems faced by the Cell and the
recommendations to resolve those problems;
(d)
guidelines issued by the Cell for translation of laws of
(e) such
other matters as may be prescribed or as the Cell may consider appropriate.
13. Disclosure of interest.—(1) If the Chairperson, Secretary, member, Director,
or any other employee, including an adviser, consultant, agent, actuary,
valuator, lawyer, and auditor or the family of such a person has, direct or
indirect interest in any matter relating to financial transactions of the Cell
or supervisory committee, such person shall forthwith disclose that interest
and the Cell or, as the case may be, the supervisory committee, may take such
action as it may consider appropriate.
(2) Any person referred to in
sub-section (1), if present in a meeting of the Cell or supervisory committee,
shall forthwith disclose his interest and withdraw himself from the meeting
during the consideration of that matter.
14. Recovery of dues.—Any amount due to the Cell may be recovered as arrears
of land revenue by an officer authorized for this purpose by the Cell and such
officer shall exercise all powers of a collector for recovery of the amount
due.
15. Duties of publishers and
booksellers.—(1) A publisher may
print a law of Pakistan in off-set, photostat, photo-block or any other modern
system of printing including uploading on website etc., but he shall not print
it in litho process.
(2)
A publisher shall,---
(a) not use
paper prohibited by the Cell for printing a law of
(b) before
submission to the Cell, get his specimen copy of the proposed publication of a
law of Pakistan compared with the text of the Gazettes and official publication
of laws of Pakistan, by a person holding a law degree from a recognized
university or a person trained in the job of proof reading of legal
publications, and have a statement recorded in writing by such a person that
the contents of the laws of Pakistan reproduced in the publication do not
contain any error; and
(c) ensure that the cover page of every edition or
publication of a law of Pakistan clearly bears the name and registration number
of the publisher, the batch number of the publication, the name of the printer
or database operator, and the day, month and year till which it has been updated.
(3) In addition to the duties specified
in sub-section (2), the publisher shall, in case of laws of
(4) A bookseller shall, after the
commencement of this Act, return all publications containing a law of
(5) After the commencement of this Act,
a bookseller shall ensure that each procurement of a publication containing a
law of
16. Disclaimer by the publisher.—Any disclaimer given by the publisher in his
publication containing a law of
17. Translation of the laws of
Pakistan.— (1) The Cell shall
regulate the publication of translation of laws of
(2) All the provisions applicable to
the laws of Pakistan under this Act and the rules made thereunder shall, in so
far as may be practicable, also apply to the translations of the laws of
Pakistan and the publications thereof.
18. De-registration.—(I) The Cell may, in the prescribed manner,
de-register a publisher through an order specifying reasons for the order.
(2) The Cell shall
not pass an order of de-registration of a publisher unless the publisher has
been served a notice and afforded an opportunity of hearing.
19. Fines.—(1) If a person publishes or sells a law of Pakistan
in violation of all or any of the requirements under section 15, the Cell may,
subject to notice and opportunity of hearing, direct the person to pay a fine
of an amount which may extend to fifty thousand rupees:---
Provided that in case of violation
under clause (a) of sub-section (2) of section 15, the fine shall be imposed
equal to the benefit gained by the publisher for not publishing on the paper
prescribed by the Cell, but in any case the amount of fine shall not be more
than fifty thousand rupees.
(2) In case of recurring breach as
specified in sub-section (1), the person shall be subject to a fine which may
extend to one hundred thousand rupees.
20. Offences.—(1) Any person who publishes a law of Pakistan
without registration under this Act shall be punished with simple imprisonment
for a term which may extend to three months and fine which may extend to three
hundred thousand rupees, but shall not be less than two hundred thousand
rupees.
(2) Any person who publishes a law of
(3) Any reviewer found negligent in his
duty of review, which negligence results in publication of a law of
(4) All published
copies of the laws of
(5) The police shall act in aid of the
Cell, as and when required by the Cell, for the purposes of this Act.
21. Violations and offences by
juristic persons.—If a person held
for a violation under section 19 or guilty of an offence under section 20 is a
company or other body corporate or a firm, every proprietor, director, general
manager, secretary, partner or any other office bearer of the company or body
corporate or firm shall, unless he proves that the violation or offence was
committed without his knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to
prevent the violation or commission of the offence, be deemed to be accountable
for such violation and guilty of such offence.
22. Jurisdiction to try offences.—(1) Any person may, in respect of the offence
committed under section 20, lodge a complaint with the Magistrate First Class
in whose jurisdiction the impugned publication has been published.
(2) For any offence committed under
section 20, the Magistrate First Class shall conduct a summary trial in
accordance with the provisions of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (V of 1898).
23. Appeal.—Any person aggrieved by an order made by the Cell
under section 19 may, within fifteen days of the date of receipt of the order,
prefer an appeal to the supervisory committee and the decision of the
supervisory committee thereon shall be final.
24. Bar of jurisdiction.—A civil court shall not entertain any suit or
application against any proceedings before the Cell or supervisory committee
under this Act.
25. Power to make rules.—The Federal Government may, by notification in the
official Gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act.
26. Removal of difficulty.—If any difficulty arises in giving effect to any of
the provisions of this Act, the President may make an order, not inconsistent
with the provisions of this Act, for the purposes of removing the difficulty.
27. Validation of actions etc. —Anything done, actions taken, orders passed,
instruments made, proceedings initiated, processes or communications issued,
powers conferred, assumed, exercised by the Federal Government, Provincial Government,
Cell or any of its officers, on and after the 29th November, 2015 and before
the commencement of this Act, shall be deemed to have been validly done, made,
issued, taken, initiated, conferred, assumed, and exercised and the provisions
of this Act shall have, and shall be deemed always to have had, effect
accordingly.
Go to Index
| LL. B. – I | LL. B. – II
| LL. B. – III | LL. B.
Directory | Home