Muscat: Based on the Royal Directives of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik, the Shura Council will start its first regular term of the third annual session (2021-2022) of the ninth period (2019-2023) from Sunday.
During the meeting, members of the Council’s office will be elected for the next half period, and the Council will re-elect the heads of the permanent committees and their deputies in accordance with the regulations governing the work of the Council.
The Council had worked during the last annual session of the ninth period to activate its roles and powers that were invested by the Basic Law of the State (6/2021), and the Law of the Council of Oman issued by Royal Decree No. (7/2021), wherein for the legislative side, it completed a set of draft law proposals including a proposal for a draft law on the regular court, a proposal to amend Articles (20) and (21) of the Law on Advocacy, a proposal to amend the Law on Pastures and Livestock Management issued by Royal Decree No. (8/2003), and a proposal to introduce a legal article in the Traffic Law concerned with the right of the vehicle owner to cancel permanent vehicle registration or temporary suspension of its driving licence, and a proposal for a bill on the rights and safety of patients.
The council also submitted a set of draft laws referred from the government, most notably the draft amendment of some provisions of the insurance companies law, the draft amendment of the Takaful insurance law, the draft unified law (the system) to combat commercial fraud in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the draft amendment of some provisions of the Civil Provisions Law, and the draft law on commercial fraud and amending some provisions of the Motor Vehicle Insurance Law, and a draft amendment to some provisions of the Foreigners Residence Law.
In the area of activating the follow-up tools with the aim of following up on the work of government and executive agencies and the societal aspects that occupy public opinion, the council members submitted during the past session more than 171 questions in various service, health, education and social sectors, in addition to 152 requests for briefing.
During the last session, the council studied 28 expressed desires, most notably about postponing citizens’ personal consumer housing premiums according to specific controls, the desire to direct greater percentages of credit to the industrial sector, and about the reality of educational services in remote and border areas, and on changing the requirements of the Ministry of Labour issued by Ministerial Resolution 12/2021 regarding small and medium enterprises.
Also, during the last session, (8) requests for discussion were approved, the most important of which are academic outputs that were not absorbed in the labour market, and the creation of a legal system to organise cooperative societies for strategic projects in the field of roads.
Council members also delivered six urgent statements on a number of issues that concern the citizen, most notably, an urgent statement on the challenges of blended education and distance learning in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on education, and an urgent statement on the controls and conditions for granting land, in addition to another statement on Oman’s 2040 vision and aspirations to achieve.
