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Rapporteur of the legal committee MP Yacoub Al-Sane said a letter was sent to the financial panel, stating that “there is a constitutional suspicion in the government request to raise charges through government decisions rather than through laws passed by the National Assembly”. The financial committee, which has already held a series of meetings over the controversial issue with the government, has sent the government’s draft law to the legal committee for a legal viewpoint. In its bill, the government wants a free hand in raising charges on public services which under the current law cannot be altered without passing legislation by the National Assembly. In 1993, the National Assembly passed a law stating that the government cannot increase charges in services without a new law passed by the Assembly. As a result, charges on essential services like electricity, water, health and the price of fuel remained almost unchanged for around two decades. The financial committee earlier this week met with Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali who told the panel that the essential services of electricity, water and health will not be touched under the new law. But committee members told the government that they are not prepared to approve the law without improving those services. More meetings are expected to take place before the issue can be debated by the National Assembly. The government has repeatedly said that billions of dinars are spent every year to subsidized essential services and commodities thus negatively impacting the budget and sharply raising spending while revenues remain almost solely reliant on oil income. MP Khaled Al-Shatti said yesterday that the government should present this draft law only after it had improved the level of public services. Meanwhile, Kuwait Lawyers Association has decided to suspend a rare strike that was scheduled for today after its chairman Khaled Al-Kundari met with the Supreme Judicial Council Chief Faisal Al-Marshed and senior judges. The association decided to go on strike after it said that its members were mistreated by security men and ministry of justice officials at the Palace of Justice during the trial of former opposition MP Mussallam Al-Barrak on Monday. During the trial, security men applied strict measures in and around the Palace of Justice in Kuwait City and allowed the entry of authorized people into the complex while lawyers and others were checked and allowed entry after producing their Identity Cards. The association said that many cases were cancelled or postponed, claiming that clients’ interests were severely affected and as a result decided not to go to courts for one day. But Kundari said in a statement that the judicial council promised it will resolve any problem that may have resulted from the security measures and vowed it will coordinate with lawyers in the future. Kundari said the association will continue to demand apologies from the Interior and Justice ministries over the issue. Hundreds of the elite Special Forces backed with armored vehicles were deployed around the Palace of Justice while dozens of policemen stood guard inside the building and controlled entry.
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