Updated: Sunday May 03, 2015/AlAhad
Rajab 15, 1436/Ravivara
Vaisakha 13, 1937, at 08:56:51 AM
The Publication of Laws of
ORDINANCE No. VIII OF 2015
AN
ORDINANCE
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 and
AND WHEREAS the
Senate and the National Assembly are not in session and the President is
satisfied that circumstances exist which render it necessary to take immediate
action;
Now THEREFORE,
in exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) of Article 89 of the
Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the President is pleased to
make and promulgate the following Ordinance:-
1.
Short
title, extent, commencement and application.__ (1) This
Ordinance may be called the Publication of Laws of Pakistan (Regulation)
Ordinance, 2015.
(2) It extends to the whole of
(3) It shall come into force at once.
(4) This
Ordinance shall not apply to publication of laws of
2. Definitions.-In
this Ordinance, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,-
(a) "Cell" means the Laws of Pakistan
Cell to be established under section 6;
(b)
"Director" means the
Director of the Cell;
(c) "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;
(d)
"prescribed" means
prescribed by rules made under this Ordinance;
(e) "public
sector organization" means a concerned ministry, division, department,
attached department, statutory body or an autonomous body of the Federal
Government, a department, statutory body, an attached department or autonomous
body of a Provincial Government and 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;
(f) "publisher" means a person who
is publishing or who , intends to publish any law of
(g) "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 Ordinance 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. Publication
of authentic versions-of laws of Pakistan. (1) The Federal Government
shall, to the extent of Federal laws, maintain an updated and accurate version
of the laws of
(2)
Each Provincial Government shall,
to the extent of Provincial laws of the respective Province, maintain an
updated and accurate version of the laws of
(3)
The Federal Government and each
Provincial Government shall secure 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 Federal Government shall
establish as many offices of the Cell throughout
7. 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 the law of
(e)
seize any unauthorized publication
of a law of
(f) impose fines as provided in section 19:
(g) initiate prosecution under this
Ordinance; and
(h) 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 sixty
working days from the date of submission of publication or payment of fee,
whichever is later, complete the review, correct errors and issue certificate
of accuracy of the publication as on a specified date.
(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 prescribed.
(2)
The Director and all the Deputy
Directors and Assistant Directors shall be the reviewers of the laws of
10. Delegation.
The Director may, subject to such conditions and
limitations as it may impose, 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:___
(i)
Secretary Law, Justice and
Human Rights Division Chairperson
(ii)
Secretaries of Law Departments
of Provinces Members
(iii)
a representative from
National Book Foundation Member
(iv) a representative from Pakistan Bar
Council Member
(v)
one representative each
from Provincial Bar
Councils and
Islamabad Bar Council Members
(vi)
a representative from
Printing Corporation of
(vii)
a representative from the
Pakistan Publishers
and Booksellers Association Member
(2)
The Director shall act as Secretary of the supervisory committee.
(3)
One half 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 sub-section (1) of 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.
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 he 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.(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 the 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 the 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)
As soon as this Ordinance is
promulgated, a publisher shall recall the latest edition of his publications
containing a law or laws of Pakistan, published immediately before the
commencement of this Ordinance, and print the certificate of accuracy on those
publications within a period of ninety days from the commencement of this
Ordinance and return the publications on the same addresses from which they
were received.
(5)
In case it is not possible to
correct errors in any publication recalled under sub-section (4), the publisher
shall destroy the same and send a copy published under sub-section (3), free of
cost, on the address specified under sub-section (4).
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 Pakistan and issue
guidelines, from time to time, for standard translation of laws of Pakistan in
Urdu and other vernacular languages of Pakistan.
(2)
All the provisions applicable to
the laws of Pakistan under this Ordinance 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.(1)
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
) Ira person publishes a law of
(2)
In case of recurring breach as
specified in sub-section (1), the person shall be subject to a fine ranging
between one hundred thousand rupees to three hundred thousand rupees.
20.
Offences.(1)Any person who publishes or intends to publish a law
of Pakistan without registration under this Ordinance shall be punished with
simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months and fine which
may extend to one million rupees. but shall not be less than two hundred
thousand rupees.
(2) Any person who publishes or intends to
publish 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 Ordinance.
21. Offences
by corporations.__ If the person guilty of an offence under
section 19 is a company or other body corporate, every proprietor, director,
general manager, secretary or any other office bearer of the company or body corporate
shall, unless he proves. that the offence was committed without his knowledge
or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of the
offence, be deemed to be guilty of such offence.
22.
Jurisdiction to try offences.(1) Any person may lodge a
complaint with the Session Judge, in whose jurisdiction the offence has been
committed. in respect of the offence committed under section 20.
(2)
For any offence committed under
section 20, the Session Judge shall conduct a summary trial in accordance with
the provisions of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (V of 1898).
23.
Appeal.(1) Any person aggrieved by an order made by the Cell tinder
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.
(2) Any person aggrieved of the order or
judgment of Session Court under section 20 may, within thirty days of the
receipt of such order or judgment, prefer an appeal to the High Court.
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 Ordinance.
25. Power
to make rules.The Federal Government may, by notification in the official
Gazette, make rules for carrying out purposes of this Ordinance.
26. Removal
of difficulty.If any difficulty arises in giving effect to any
of the provisions of this Ordinance, the President may make an order, not inconsistent
with the provisions of this Ordinance, for the purposes of removing the
difficulty.
The Publication of Laws of
Pakistan Rules, 2015
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