(W.P. Ordinance II of 1969)
[14 April 1969 ]
An Ordinance to provide for the appointment of Tribunals of
Inquiry and for vesting such Tribunals with certain powers
Preamble.— WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for the appointment of
Tribunals of Inquiry and for vesting such Tribunals with certain powers;
Now,
THEREFORE, in pursuance of the Martial Law Proclamation of 25th March, 1969,
read with the Provisional Constitution Order, the Administrator of Martial Law,
Zone A, in exercise of the powers of the Governor West Pakistan conferred on
him by the Chief Martial Law Administrator, is pleased to make and promulgate
the following Ordinance:-
1. Short title, extent and commencement.— (1) This Ordinance may be called the [3][3][Punjab ] Tribunals of
Inquiry Ordinance, 1969.
(3) It shall come into force at once.
2. Definitions.— In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires,
the following expressions shall have the meanings hereby respectively assigned
to them—
(b) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made
under section 13; and
(c) “Tribunal”
means a Tribunal appointed or deemed to have been appointed under section 3,
and includes a Commission or Committee of Inquiry appointed under the said
section.
3. Appointment of Tribunal, Commission or
Committee of Inquiry.—
(1) Government may, if it is of opinion that it is necessary so to do, by
notification in the official Gazette, appoint a Tribunal, Commission or
Committee of Inquiry for the purpose of making an inquiry into any definite
matter of public importance and performing such functions and within such time
as may be specified in the notification, and the Tribunal, Commission or
Committee so appointed shall make the inquiry and perform the function
accordingly.
(2) The Tribunal may consist of one or more
members appointed by Government, and where the Tribunal consists of more than
one member, one of them may be appointed as the President or Chairman thereof.
4. Powers of Tribunal.— The Tribunal shall have the powers of a civil court, while
trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908[6][6], in respect of the following matters, namely:-
(a) summoning
and enforcing the attendance of person and examining him on oath;
(b) requiring
the discovery and production of any document;
(c) receiving
evidence on affidavits;
(d) issuing commissions for the examination of
witnesses or documents.
5. Additional powers of Tribunal.— (1) Where Government is of opinion that, having regard to
the nature of the inquiry to be made and other circumstances of the case, all
or any of the provisions of sub-section (2) or sub-section (3) or sub-section
(4) or sub-section (5) or sub-section (6) should be made applicable to a
Tribunal, Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, direct that
all or such of the said provisions as may be specified in the notification
shall apply to that Tribunal, and on the issue of such a notification, the said
provisions shall apply accordingly.
(2) The Tribunal shall have power to require
any person, subject to any privilege which may be claimed by that person under
any law for the time being in force, to furnish information on such points or
matters as, in the opinion of the Tribunal, may be useful for, or relevant to,
the subject matter of the inquiry.
(3) The President or the Chairman of the
Tribunal, or any officer, not below the rank of a gazetted officer, specially
authorised in this behalf by Government may enter any building or place where
the Tribunal has reason to believe that any books of account or other documents
relating to the subject matter of the inquiry may be found, and may seize any
such books of account or documents or take extracts or copies therefrom,
subject to the provisions of section 102 and section 103 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure, 1898[7][7], in so far as they may be applicable.
(4) The Tribunal shall be deemed to be a
civil court and when any offence as is described in section 175, section 178,
section 179, section 180 or section 228 of the Pakistan Penal Code[8][8], is committed in the view or presence of the Tribunal,
the Tribunal may, after recording the facts constituting the offence and the
statement of the accused as provided for in the Code of Criminal Procedure,
1898, forward the case to a magistrate having jurisdiction to try the same and
the magistrate to whom any such case is forwarded shall proceed to hear the
complaint against the accused as if the case had been forwarded to him under
section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898[9][9].
(5) Any proceeding before the Tribunal shall
be deemed to be a judicial proceeding within the meaning of sections 193 and
228 of the Pakistan Penal Code[10][10].
(6) The Tribunal shall have the powers of a
civil court, while trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908[11][11], in respect of requisitioning any public record or copy
thereof from any court or office.
6. Statements
made by persons to the Tribunal.— No statement made by a person in the course of giving
evidence before the Tribunal shall subject him to, or be used against him in,
any civil or criminal proceeding except a prosecution for giving false evidence
by such statement:
Provided
that the statement—
(a) is
made in reply to a question which he is required by the Tribunal to answer; or
(b) is
relevant to the subject matter of inquiry.
7. Tribunal
to cease to exist when so notified.— Government may, if it is of opinion that the continued
existence of a Tribunal is unnecessary, by notification in the official
Gazette, declare that the Tribunal shall cease to exist from such date as may
be specified in this behalf in such notification, and thereupon, the Tribunal
shall cease to exist.
8. Procedure to be followed by the
Tribunal.— The Tribunal shall, subject to any
rules that may be made in this behalf, have power to regulate its own procedure
(including the fixing of places and times of its sittings and deciding whether
to sit in public or in private) and may act notwithstanding the temporary
absence of any member or the existence of a vacancy among its members.
9. Protection
of action taken in good faith.— No suit or other legal proceedings shall lie against
Government, the Tribunal or any member thereof, or any person acting under the
direction either of Government or of the Tribunal in respect of anything which
is in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of this Ordinance or
of any rules or orders made thereunder or in respect of the publication, by or
under the authority of Government or the Tribunal, of any report, paper or
proceedings.
10. Members, etc.,
to be public servants.—
Every member of the Tribunal and every officer appointed or authorised by the
Tribunal to exercise functions under this Ordinance shall be deemed to be a
public servant within the meaning of section 21 of the Pakistan Penal Code[12][12].
11. Conferment of
powers.— (1) Government may, by notification
in the official Gazette, and subject to such conditions or restrictions, if
any, as may be mentioned in the notification confer upon the Tribunal the power
to order a police investigation into any matter coming before it.
(2) In conducting an investigation ordered
under sub-section (1), the police shall exercise the powers conferred on the
police in respect of a cognizable case by Chapter XIV of the Code of Criminal
Procedure, 1898[13][13].
12. Act
to apply to other inquiring authorities in certain cases.— Where any authority (by whatever name
called), other than a Tribunal appointed under section 3, has been or is set up
under any resolution or order of Government for the purpose of making an
inquiry into any definite matter of public importance and Government is of
opinion that any of the provisions of this Ordinance should be made applicable
to that authority, Government may, by notification in the official Gazette,
direct that the said provisions of this Ordinance shall apply to that authority,
and on the issue of such notification that authority shall be deemed to be a
Tribunal appointed under section 3 for the purpose of this Ordinance.
13. Powers to frame rules.—
Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, make rules to carry out
the purposes of this Ordinance.
[1][1]This
Ordinance was promulgated by the Administrator, Martial Law, Zone ‘A’ on 10th
April, 1969; published in the West Pakistan Gazette (Extraordinary), dated 14th
April, 1969, pages 543-547; saved by Article 281 of the Interim Constitution of
the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (1972); and, validated by the Validtion of
Laws Act, 1975 (LXIII of 1975).
[2][2]Substituted by the Punjab Laws (Adaptation) Order, 1974 (Pb A.O. 1 of
1974), for “West Pakistan ”.
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