Constitution of 1956

Part 5: The Provinces

Part 5 consisted of articles 70 to 104. It described the provinces, much along the same lines as the previous part described the federation. The first chapter regarded the provincial government (articles 70 to 75), which centered around a Governor whose powers in the provinces paralleled those of the President in the federation. The second chapter (articles 76 to 104) regarded the provincial legislature, which paralelled the federal parliament in the provinces.

Part 5: The Provinces

Chapter 1: The Provincial Government

Chapter 2: The Provincial Legislature

Chapter 1: The Provincial Government

Article 70

(1) There shall be a Governor of each Province who shall be appointed by the President and shall hold office during the pleasure of the President.

(2) No person shall be eligible for appointment as Governor unless he is a citizen of Pakistan and is not less than forty years of age.

(3) A Governor may resign his office by writing under his hand addressed to the President.

(4) Subject to the foregoing provisions of this Article, a Governor shall hold office for a period of five years from the date on which he enters upon his office.

(5) A Governor shall not be a member of the National or a Provincial Assembly, and if a member of any such Assembly is appointed a Governor, his seat in that Assembly shall become vacant on the date on which he enters upon his office.

Article 71

(1) There shall be a Cabinet of Ministers with the Chief Minister at its head, to aid and advise the Governor in the exercise of his functions.

(2) The question whether any, and if so, what, advice has been tendered by the Cabinet or a Minister to the Governor shall not be inquired into in any Court.

(3) The Governor shall, in his discretion, appoint from amongst the members of the Provincial Assembly a Chief Minister, who, in his opinion, is most likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the Provincial Assembly.

(4) Other Ministers, Deputy Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries shall be appointed and removed from office by the Governor, but no person shall be appointed a Deputy Minister or Parliamentary Secretary unless he is a member of the Provincial Assembly.

(5) The Cabinet shall be collectively responsible to the Provincial Assembly.

(6) The Chief Minister shall hold office during the pleasure of the Governor, but the Governor shall not exercise his powers under this clause unless he is satisfied that the Chief Minister does not command the confidence of the majority of the members of the Provincial Assembly.

(7) In the exercise of his functions, the Governor shall act in accordance with the advice of the Cabinet or the appropriate Minister, as the case may be, except in cases where he is empowered by the Constitution to act in his discretion, and except as respects the exercise of his powers under clause (6).

Explanation.-For the avoidance of doubt it is hereby declared that for the purposes of clause (4) the appropriate Minister shall be the Chief Minister.

(8) A Minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of the Provincial Assembly shall at the expiration of that period, cease to be a Minister, and shall not before the dissolution of that Assembly be againg appointed a Minister unless he is elected a member of that Assembly.

(9) Nothing in this Article shall be construed as disqualifying the Chief Minister or any other Minister, or a Deputy Minister or Parliamentary Secretary, for continuing in office during any period during which the Provincial Assembly stands dissolved, or as preventing appointment of any person as Chief Minister or other Minister or as Deputy Minister of Parliamentary Secretary, during any such period.

Article 72

(1) The Governor shall appoint an Advocate-General for the Province, who shall hold office during the pleasure of the Governor, shall receive such remuneration as may be determined by the Governor, and shall perform such duties as may be assigned to him by the Governor.

(2) No Person shall be qualified for appointment as Advocate-General unless he is qualified for appointment as a Judge of a High Court, but no person shall be appointed as Advocate-General if he is or has been a judge of the Supreme Court or of a High Court.

(3) A person shall not hold office as Advocate-General after he has attained the age of sixty-five years.

Article 73

(1) The executive authority of a Province shall vest in the Governor and shall be exercised by him either directly or through officers subordinate to him, in accordance with the Constitution.

(2) Except as expressly provided in the Constitution, the executive authority of a Province shall extend to all matters with respect to which the Provincial Legislature has power to make laws.

Article 74

(1) All executive actions of the Government of a Province shall be expressed to be taken in the name of the Governor thereof.

(2) The Governor shall by rules specify the manner in which orders and other instruments made and executed in his name shall be authenticated, and the validity of any order or instrument so authenticated shall not be questioned in any court on the ground that it was to made or executed by the Governor.

(3) The Governor shall also make rules for the allocation and transaction of the business of the Provincial Government.

Article 75

It shall be the duty of the Chief Minister of each Province -

(a) to communicate to the Governor of the Province all decisions of the Cabinet relating to the administration of the affairs of the Province and proposals for legislation;

(b) to furnish such information relating to the administration of the affairs of the Province and proposals for legislation as the Governor may call for; and

(c) if the Governor so requires, to submit for the consideration of the Cabinet any matter on which a decision has been taken by a Minister but which has not been considered by the Cabinet.

Chapter 2: The Provincial Legislature

Article 76

There shall be a Provincial Legislature for each Province consisting of the Governor and one House, to be known as the Provincial Assembly.

Article 77

(1) Subject to the succeeding clauses, each Provincial Assembly shall consist of three hundred members.

(2) In addition to the seats in each Provincial Assembly for the members mentioned in clause (1), there shall, for a period of ten years from the Constitution Day, be ten seats reserved in each Provincial Assembly for women members only; and constituencies shall accordingly be delimited as women's territorial constituencies for this purpose:
Provided that a woman who, under this clause, is a member of a Provincial Assembly at the time of the expiration of the said period of ten years, shall not cease to be a member until the Assembly is dissolved.

(3) Parliament may by Act alter the number of the members of the Provincial Assemblies, provided that the number of members of the two Assemblies shall remain equal.

(4) Parliament may, with the consent of a Provincial Assembly, by Act provide for the representation in that Assembly, which is included in the Province after the Constitution Day but no such Act shall alter the number of members of the Assembly.

(5) Until the fourteenth day of October, 1965, the number of members of the Provincial Assembly of the Province of West Pakistan elected by constituencies in the territory which, immediately before the commencement of the Establishment of West Pakistan Act, 1955, constituted the Province of Punjab shall not be more than two-fifths of the total number of members of that Assembly.

Article 78

(1) A person shall be qualified to be elected to a Provincial Assembly -

(a) if he is not less than twenty-five years of age and is qualified to be an elector for any constituency for the Provincial Assembly under Article 143; and

(b) if he is not disqualified for being a member by the Constitution or an Act of Parliament.

(2) If any question arises whether a member has, after his election, become subject to any disqualification, the Speaker of the Provincial Assembly shall obtain the opinion of the Election Commission and, if the opinion is that the member has incurred any disqualification, his seat shall become vacant.

(3) If any person sits or votes in a Provincial Assembly knowing that he is not qualified for, or is disqualified for, membership thereof, he shall be liable in respect of every day on which he so sits or votes to a penalty of five hundred rupees, which may be recovered from him as a debt due to the Province.

Article 79

(1) No person shall at the same time be a member of the National Assembly and of a Provincial Assembly, and if a person has been elected as a member both of the National Assembly and of a Provincial Assembly, and does not, within thirty days of his election to the Assembly to which has been elected last, resign one of his seats, his seat in the Provincial Assembly shall become vacant.

(2) No person shall at the same time be a member of both Provincial Assemblies, and if a person elected as a member of both the Assemblies and does not, within thirty days of his election t the second Assembly, resign one of his seats, his seats in both the Assemblies shall become vacant.

(3) No person shall at the same time be a member of a Provincial Assembly for two or more constituencies; but nothing in this clause shall prevent a person from being at the same time a candidate for two or more constituencies, but if a person has been elected as a member for two or more constituencies and does not, within thirty days of his election by the constituency by which he has been elected last, make a declaration in writing under his hand addressed to the Speaker specifying the constituency which he wishes to represent, all his seats in the Assembly shall become vacant; but so long as a person is a member for two or more constituencies he shall not sit or vote in the Assembly.

(4) If a member of a Provincial Assembly for one constituency permits himself to be nominated as a candidate for election by another constituency for the Assembly, his seat in respect of the former constituency shall become vacant.

Article 80

If a member of a Provincial Assembly is absent from the Assembly, without leave of the Assembly, for sixty consecutive sitting days, his seat shall become vacant.

Article 81

If a member of a Provincial Assembly fails to make and subscribe an oath or affirmation in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution within a period of six months from the date of the first meeting of the Assembly after his election, his seat shall become vacant:

Provided that the Speaker may, before the expiration of the said period, for good cause shown, extend the period.

Article 82

A member of Provincial Assembly may resign his seat by notice in writing under his hand addressed to the Speaker.

Article 83

(1) The Governor may summon, prorogue or dissolve the Provincial Assembly and shall, when summoning the Assembly, fix the time and place of the meeting.

(2) Whenever a Chief Minister of a Provincial Government is appointed, the Provincial Assembly, if, at the time of the appointment, it is not sitting and does not stand dissolved, shall be summoned so as to meet within two months thereafter.

(3) Unless sooner dissolved, a Provincial Assembly shall stand dissolved on the expiration of five years after the date of its first meeting.

Article 84

There shall be at least two sessions of a Provincial Assembly in every year, and six months shall not intervene between the last sitting of the Assembly in one session, and its first sitting in the next session.

Article 85

The Governor of a Province may address the Provincial Assembly and may send messages thereto.

Article 86

Every Minister and the Advocate-General of a Province shall have the right to speak in, and otherwise take part in the proceedings of, the Provincial Assembly, and of any committee thereof of which he may be named a member, but shall not by virtue of this Article be entitled to vote.

Article 87

(1) Every Provincial Assembly shall, as soon as may be, choose two of its members to be respectively Speaker and Deputy Speaker thereof and, so often as the office of Speaker or Deputy Speaker becomes vacant, the Assembly shall choose another member to be Speaker or Deputy Speaker, as the case may be.

(2) A member holding office as Speaker or Deputy Speaker shall vacate his office if he ceases to be a member of the Provincial Assembly, may at any time resign his office by writing under his hand addressed to the Governor, and may be removed from his office by a resolution of the Assembly passed by a majority of the total members thereof; but no resolution for the purpose of this clause shall be moved unless at least fourteen days' notice has been given of the intention to move the resolution:

Provided that whenever the Provincial Assembly is dissolved the Speaker shall not, by virtue of the dissolution, vacate his office until immediately before the first meeting of the Assembly after the dissolution.

(3) While the office of Speaker is vacant, or the Speaker is for any reason unable to perform the duties of his office, those duties shall be performed by the Deputy Speaker, or if the office of Deputy Speaker is also vacant, by such member of the Assembly as the Governor may appoint for the purpose; and during any absence of the Speaker from any sitting of the Assembly the Deputy Speaker, or if he also is absent, such person as may be determined by the rules of procedure of the Assembly, shall act as Speaker.

Article 88

(1) Subject to the provisions of the Constitution -

(a) the procedure of a Provincial Assembly shall be regulated by rules of procedure framed by the Assembly;

(b) a decision in a Provincial Assembly shall be taken by a majority of the members present and voting; but the person presiding shall not vote except when there is an equality of votes, in which case he shall have and exercise a casting vote;

(c) a Provincial Assembly shall have power to act notwithstanding any vacancy in the membership thereof, and any proceeding in the Assembly shall not be invalid only for the reason that some person who was not entitled to do so sat or voted, or otherwise took part in the proceedings.

(2) If at any time during a meeting of the Provincial Assembly the attention of the person presiding is drawn to the fact that less than forty members are present, it shall be the duty of the person presiding either to adjourn the Assembly, or to suspend the meeting until at least forty members are present.

Article 89

(1) The validity of any proceedings in a Provincial Assembly shall not be questioned in any court.

(2) No officer or member of a Provincial Assembly in whom powers are vested for the regulation of procedure, or the conduct of business, or the maintenance of order in the Assembly, shall, in relation to the exercise by him of any of those powers, be subject to the jurisdiction of any court.

(3) No member of a Provincial Assembly, and no person entitled to speak therein, shall be liable to any proceedings in any court in respect of anything said or any vote given by him in the Assembly or any committee thereof.

(4) No person shall be liable to any proceedings in any court in respect of the publication by or under the authority of a Provincial Assembly of any report, paper, vote or proceedings.

(5) Subject to this Article, the privileges of a Provincial Assembly, the committees and members thereof, and the persons entitled to speak therein may be determined by Act of the Provincial Legislature; but such privileges may not exceed those conferred on the National Assembly, its committees and members, and the persons entitled to speak therein.

Article 90

(1) When a Bill has been passed by a Provincial Assembly it shall be presented to the Governor, who shall, within ninety days:

(a) assent to the Bill; or

(b) reserve the Bill for the consideration of the President; or

(c) declare that he withholds assent from the Bill; or

(d) in the case of a Bill other than a Money Bill, return the Bill to the Assembly with a message requesting that the Bill, or any specified provision thereof, be reconsidered and that any amendments specified by him in the message be considered.

(2) When the Governor has reserved a Bill for the consideration of the President it shall be presented to the President, who shall, within ninety days:

(a) assent to the Bill; or

(b) declare that he withholds assent therefrom.

(3) When the Governor has declared that he withholds assent from a Bill, the Provincial Assembly shall be competent to reconsider the Bill, and if it is again passed, with or without amendment, by the Assembly, by the votes of not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting, it shall be again presented to the Governor, and the Governor shall assent thereto.

(4) When the Governor has returned a Bill to the Provincial Assembly it shall be reconsidered by the Assembly, and if it is again passed, with or without amendment, by the Assembly, by a majority of the total number of members of the Assembly, it shall be again presented to the Governor, and the Governor shall assent thereto.

Article 91

(1) In this Part "Money Bill" means a Bill containing only provisions dealing with all or any of the following matters, that is to say -

(a) the imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of any tax;

(b) the borrowing of money, or the giving of any guarantee, by the Provincial Government, or the amendment of the law relating to the financial obligations of that Government;

(c) the custody of the Provincial Consolidated Fund the payment of moneys into, or the issue or appropriation of moneys from, such Fund;

(d) the imposition of a charge upon the Provincial Consolidated Fund, or the abolition or alteration of any such charge;

(e) the receipt of moneys on account of the Provincial Consolidated Fund, or the Public Account of the Province, or the custody or issue of such moneys; and

(f) any matter incidental to any of the matters specified in the aforesaid sub-clauses.

(2) A Bill shall not be deemed to be a Money Bill by reason only that -

(a) it provides for the imposition or alteration of any fine or other pecuniary penalty, or for the demand or payment of a licence fee, or a fee or charge for any service rendered; or (b) it provides for the imposition, abolition, remission, alteration, or regulation of any tax by any local authority or body for local purposes.

(3) Every Money Bill, when it is presented to the Governor for his assent, shall bear a certificate under the hand of the Speaker that it is a Money Bill, and such certificate shall be conclusive for all purposes and shall not be questioned in any court.

Article 92

No Bill or amendment which makes provision for any of the matters specified in clause (1) of Article 91, or which if enacted and brought into operation would involve expenditure from the Province, shall be introduced or moved in a Provincial Assembly except on the recommendation of the Governor.

Article 93

No tax shall be levied for the purposes of a Province except by or under the authority of an Act of the Provincial Legislature.

Article 94

(1) All revenues received by a Provincial Government, all loans raised by that Government, and all moneys received by it in repayment of any loan, shall form part of one consolidated fund, to be known as the Provincial Consolidated Fund.

(2) All other public moneys received by or on behalf of the Provincial Government shall be credited to the Public Account of the Province.

Article 95

(1) The custody of the Provincial Consolidated Fund, the payment of moneys into such Fund, the withdrawal of moneys therefrom, the custody of public moneys other than those credited to such Fund received by or on behalf of the Provincial Government, their payment into the Public Account of the Province, and the withdrawal of moneys from such Account, and all matters connected with or ancillary to matters aforesaid, shall be regulated by Act of the Provincial Legislature and, until provision in that behalf is so made, by rules made by the Governor.

(2) All moneys received by or deposited with-

(a) any officer employed in connection with the affairs of a Province in his capacity as such, other than revenues or public moneys raised or received by the Provincial Government;

(b) any court to the credit of any cause, matter, account or person in connection with the affairs of the Province;
shall be paid into the Public Account of the Province.

Article 96

(1) The Governor shall, in respect of every financial year, cause to be laid before the Provincial Assembly a statement of the estimated receipts and expenditure of the Provincial Government for that year, in this part referred to as the Annual Financial Statement.

(2) The Annual Financial Statement shall show separately -

(a) the sums required to meet expenditure described by the Constitution as expenditure charged upon the Provincial Consolidated Fund; and

(b) the sums required to meet other expenditure proposed to be made from the Provincial Consolidated Fund;
and shall distinguish expenditure on revenue account from other expenditure.

Article 97

The following expenditure shall be charged on the Provincial Consolidated Fund:-

(a) the remuneration payable to the Governor other expenditure relating to his office, and the remuneration payable to-

(i) the Judges of the High Court;

(ii) the members of the Provincial Public Service Commission; and

(iii) the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Provincial Assembly;

(b) the administrative expenses, including the remuneration payable to officers and servants, of the High Court, the Provincial Public Service Commission, and the Secretariat of the Provincial Assembly;

(c) all debt charges for which the Provincial Government is liable including interest, sinking fund charges, the repayment or amortization of capital and other expenditure in connection with the raising of loans and the service and redemption of debt on the security of the Provincial Consolidated Fund;

(d) any sums required to satisfy any judgment, decree or award against the Province by any court, or tribunal; and

(e) any other sums declared by the Constitution or by an Act of the Provincial Legislature to be so charged.

Article 98

(1) So much of the Annual Financial Statement as relates to expenditure charged upon the Provincial Consolidated Fund may be discussed in, but shall not be submitted to the vote of, the Provincial Assembly.

(2) So much of the Annual Financial Statement as relates to other expenditure shall be submitted to the Provincial Assembly in the form of demands for grants, and that Assembly shall have power to assent to, or to refuse to assent to any demand, or to assent to any demand subject to a reduction of the amount specified therein.

(3) No demand for a grant shall be made except on the recommendation of the Governor.

Article 99

(1) As soon as may be after the grants under the last preceding Article have been made by the Provincial Assembly there shall be introduced in the Assembly a Bill to provide for appropriation out of the Provincial Consolidated Fund of all moneys required to meet -

(a) the grants so made by the Provincial Assembly; and

(b) the expenditure charged on the Provincial Consolidated Fund;
but not exceeding in any case the amount shown in the statement previously laid before the Provincial Assembly.

(2) No amendment shall be proposed in the Provincial Assembly to any such Bill which shall have the effect of varying the amount or altering the destination of any grant so made.

(3) Subject to the provisions of the Constitution, no money shall be withdrawn from the Provincial Consolidated Fund except under appropriation made by law passed in accordance with the provisions of the Article.

Article 100

If in respect of any financial year it is found -

(a) that the amount authorized to be expanded for a particular service for the current financial year is insufficient, or that a need has arisen for expenditure upon some new service not included in the Annual Financial Statement for that year; or

(b) that any money has been spent on any service during a financial year in excess of the amount granted for that service for that year;

the Governor shall have power to authorize expenditure from the Provincial Consolidated Fund, whether the expenditure is charged by the Constitution upon that Fund or not and shall cause to be laid before the Provincial Assembly a Supplementary Financial Statement, setting out the amount of that expenditure, and the provisions of Article 96 to 99 shall apply to the aforesaid statements as they apply to the Annual Financial Statement.

Article 101

(1) Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this chapter, the Provincial Assembly shall have power -

(a) to make any grant in advance in respect of the estimated expenditure for a part of any financial year pending the completion of the procedure prescribed in Article 98 for the voting of such grant and the passing of the law in accordance with the provisions of Article 99 in relation to that expenditure;

(b) to make a grant for meeting an unexpected demand upon the resources of the Province when on account of the magnitude or the indefinite character of the service the demand cannot be specified with the details ordinarily given in an Annual Financial Statement;

(c) to make an exceptional grant which forms no part of the current service of any financial year;

and the Provincial Legislature shall have power to authorize by law the withdrawal of moneys from the Provincial Consolidated Fund for the purposes for which the said grants are made.

(2) The provisions of Article 98 and 99 shall have effect in relation to the making of any grant under clause (1) and to any law to be made under that clause as they have effect in relation to the making of a grant with regard to any expenditure mentioned in the Annual Financial Statement and law to be made for the authorization of appropriation of money out of the Provincial Consolidated Fund to meet such expenditure.

Article 102

(1) If at any time, except when the Provincial Assembly is in session, the Governor is satisfied that circumstances exist which render immediately action necessary, he may make and promulgate such Ordinances as the circumstances appear to him to require, and any Ordinance so made shall have the like force of law as an Act of the Provincial Legislature; but the power of making Ordinances under this clause shall be subject to the like restrictions as the power of the Provincial Legislature to make laws, and any Ordinance made under this clause may be controlled or superseded by any such Act:
Provided that the Governor shall not, without previous instructions from the President promulgate any such Ordinance if an Act of the Provincial Legislature containing the same provision would, under the Constitution, have been invalid unless it had received the assent of the President.

(2) An Ordinance promulgated under clause (1) shall be laid before the Provincial Assembly and shall cease to operate at the expiration of six weeks from the next meeting of the Assembly, or if a resolution disapproving it is passed by the Assembly, upon the passing of that resolution.

(3) At any time when the Provincial Assembly stands dissolved, the Governor may, if he is satisfied that circumstances exist which render such action necessary, make and promulgate an Ordinance authorizing expenditure from the Provincial Consolidated Fund, whether the expenditure is charged by the Constitution upon that Fund or not, pending compliance with the provisions of Articles 96, 98 and 99.

(4) As soon as may be after the date of the reconstitution of the Provincial Assembly, any Ordinance promulgated under clause

(3) shall be laid before the Assembly; and the provisions of Articles 96, 98 and 99 shall be complied within six weeks from that date.

Article 103

(1) In this Article the expression "excluded area" means an area which was an excluded are immediately before the Constitution Day.

(2) The executive authority of a Province shall extend to any excluded area therein but, notwithstanding anything in the Constitution, no Act of a Provincial Legislature shall apply to an excluded area unless the Governor by public notification so directs, and in giving such a direction with respect to any Act he may direct that the Act shall in its application to the area, or any specified part thereof, have effect subject to such exceptions or modifications as may be specified in the direction.

(3) The Governor may make regulations for the peace and good government of any excluded area in the Province, and any such regulations may repeal or amend any Act of Parliament, or of the Provincial Legislature, or any other law in force in the area:

Provided that no regulation repealing or amending an Act of Parliament shall take effect until it has been approved by the President.

(4) The President may by Order direct that the whole or any specified part of an excluded area shall cease to be an excluded area, and any such Order may contain such incidental and consequential provisions as appear to the President to be necessary and proper.

Article 104

(1) The executive authority of the Province of West Pakistan shall extend to the Special Areas, but notwithstanding anything in the Constitution, no Act of Parliament or of the Provincial Legislature shall apply to a Special Area or to any part thereof unless the Governor, with the previous approval of the President, so directs, and in giving such a direction with respect to any Act the Governor may direct that the Act shall, in its application to a Special Area, or to any specified part thereof, have effect subject to such exceptions and modifications as may be specified in the direction.

(2) The Governor may with the previous approval of the President, make regulations for the peace and good government of a Special Area, or any part thereof, and any regulation so made repeal or amend any Act of Parliament, or of the Provincial Legislature, or any other law in force in the Area.

(3) The President may, from time to time, give such directions to the Governor relating to the whole or any part of a Special Area as he may deem necessary, and the Governor shall, in the exercise of his functions under this Article, comply with such directions.

(4) The President may, at any time, by Order, direct that the whole or any part of a Special Area shall cease to be a Special Area, and any such Order may contain such incidental and consequential provisions as appear to the President to be necessary and proper:

Provided that before making any Order under this clause, the President shall ascertain, in such manner as he considers appropriate, the views of the people of the area concerned.

NEXT

Source: Documents and Speeches on the Constitution of Pakistan
By G. W. Choudhury (1967). Green Book House, Dacca (East Pakistan)

Search the Republic of Rumi