AMMAN - The Lower House on Sunday voted to discuss the temporary land transport regulatory commission law, rejecting a proposal by a number of deputies to scrap the legislation.
Several deputies called for the law to be rejected, saying that the commission's establishment would contradict the government's plan to merge the already existing 62 independent public agencies.
Responding to deputies' concerns, Minister of Transport Alaa Batayneh said the commission already exists as an administration and its new designation aims to encourage private investment in the transport sector.
He added that other transport commissions will be merged under the new body, including railway and cargo authorities.
The 31-article temporary law seeks to regulate land transport authorities, encourage competition in the market and define the tasks of the Ministry of Transport in drawing up policies concerning the sector, according to the government.
The commission will also be tasked with setting technical standards and safety requirements for different means of land transport.
During yesterday's session, 59 MPs voted for discussing the law, 26 voted against it, while 34 abstained.
MPs will resume discussing the law in a regular session on Wednesday.
Also yesterday, lawmakers endorsed the Pharmaceutical Studies Law for the year 2001 as referred by the Senate.
The 15th Lower House of Parliament rejected the law, which was then endorsed by the Senate with some modifications and sent back to the Chamber of Deputies.
At yesterday's evening session, chaired by the House Speaker's First Deputy Atef Tarawneh, deputies named the presidents and rapporteurs of six committees tasked with studying election contests submitted by citizens.
According to the House Secretariat, 33 challenges have been submitted against 22 deputies.
Article 71 of the Constitution states: "The Chamber of Deputies shall have the right to determine the validity of the election of its members. Any voter shall have the right to present a petition to the secretariat of the Chamber within 15 days of the announcement of the results of the election in his constituency setting out the legal grounds for invalidating the election of any deputy."
Under Lower House bylaws, MPs form committees to study the petitions and ask the deputies involved to respond to them.
However, not a single election contest in the history of the Lower House has ever been approved, parliamentary sources previously told The Jordan Times.
© Jordan Times 2011
