ISLAMABAD, June 25, 2012: Meeting for eight hours and 23 minutes, the Sindh Assembly passed the budget for the fiscal year 2012-13 along with the supplementary budget on Monday.
The 11th sitting of the 36 session, which started 89 minutes behind schedule, met from 11am till 2:43pm. After more than an hour’s break, it resumed proceedings at 4:25pm which continued till 9:07pm.
Though at the start only 17 legislators (10% of the Membership) were present, when the sitting ended it had 102 Members (61% of the Membership). At one time a maximum of 109 legislators were present in the House.
All the parliamentary leaders – PPPP, PMLF, NPP, MQM, ANP, PML and PMLQ (FB) – along with the Chief Minister attended the sitting. The Speaker chaired the sitting for six hours and 48 minutes while the Deputy Speaker presided for one hour and 36 minutes.
Twenty legislators – 13 PPPP, three MQM, two PMLQ (FB) and one each from PMLF and NPP – spoke on the budget for 455 minutes.
As there were no Cut Motions, the demands for grants and the schedule of authorized expenditure for 2012-13 were approved unanimously. Similarly the demands for grants on supplementary budget for 2011-12 were also approved unanimously.
None of the four questions appearing on the agenda were taken up. Three Points of Order took up six minutes of the sitting time. The speaker prorogued the House for indefinite period.
The following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Sindh Assembly met for eight hours and 23 minutes.
- The sitting started at 11:01am instead of the scheduled starting time of 9:30am. The proceedings were delayed by 89 minutes.
- The Speaker chaired the sitting for six hours and 48 minutes while the Deputy Speaker presided for one hour and 36 minutes.
- The Chief Minister attended the sitting.
- All the parliamentary leaders – PPPP, PMLF, NPP, MQM, ANP, PML and PMLQ (FB) – were present.
- Seventeen (10% of 166) Members were present at the start while 102 (61%) were there when the sitting was adjourned.
- Seven minority Members were present during the proceedings.
Representation and Responsiveness
- None of the four questions appearing on the Agenda were taken up.
Output
- Twenty legislators – 13 PPPP, three MQM, two PMLQ (FB) and one each from PMLF and NPP – spoke on the budget for 455 minutes.
Order and Institutionalization
- Three Points of Order took up six minutes of the sitting time.
- There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts.
Transparency
- Orders of the Day were available to legislators, observers and others.
- Information about Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), a member organization of FAFEN
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