MUSCAT: Majlis Ash’shura has referred the draft amendments of the Insurance Companies Law and the Takaful Insurance Law, referred to it by the Council of Ministers, to the State Council.
The referral of the two draft amendments followed the council’s approval of two reports submitted by the Economic and Financial Committee, at a regular session of Majlis Ash’shura held on Sunday.
Ahmed bin Said al Sharqi, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Committee reviewed the draft amendments of the Insurance Companies Law and the Takaful Insurance Law. The amendments included clear-cut regulations of the medical insurance whereby Takaful insurance companies will be able to practice medical insurance.
The committee had studied the justifications for the amendments with the relevant authorities and their impact on various parties including the private sector and the health institutions. The council has approved the committee’s decision to maintain the draft amendments of the two laws as received from the Council of Ministers in preparation of a mandatory medical insurance for the private sector employees.
The Council also approved amendments of Articles (20,21) of the Advocacy Law. Yaqoub bin Mohammed al Harthi, Deputy Chairman of Majlis Ash’shura, presented justifications for the amendments pointing to the ministerial decision No 261/2016 issued by the Ministry of Justice which gave non-Omani lawyers until December 31, 2020 to appear before the Supreme Court and appellate courts due to lack of national lawyers who have completed the required period for appearance before these courts.
During the session, the Council reviewed a number of ministerial replies formerly presented by Council’s members including a question presented to the minister of agriculture, fisheries and water resources on the national strategy for developing date palm trees. They also included a question to the minister of transport, communications and information technology, related to finding a special identity for vehicles using electronic platforms for delivering transportation services. The ministerial reply said that the electronic requesting of transportation services is an additional activity given to taxi owners but it does not cancel the original taxi license.
The Council also listened to a ministerial reply from the minister of education to an inquiry about the delay in remunerations on the transportation contracts signed with the owners of school buses. The ministerial reply said that the delay in payment is attributed to several reasons which included the suspension of schools due to the Covid-19 pandemic which triggered activation of online classes.s
The Council also listened to a ministerial reply from the minister of housing and urban planning to a question about the suspension of the housing loans. The minister said the housing loans programme for the limited-income segment was suspended since 2015 because the relevant authorities have prepared a comprehensive conception that recommended transfer of the housing programme from the ministry to Oman Housing Bank, however the transfer procedures have yet to be completed.
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