ISLAMABAD, September 19, 2017: The National Assembly adopted five resolutions on Tuesday and referred as many bills to the relevant committees for further consideration, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are key observations of the proceedings during seventh sitting of 46th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for two hours and 41 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1059 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
- The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
- The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present for ten minutes.
- Fifty-seven lawmakers (17%) were present at the outset and 41(12%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of APML, QWP-S, PkMAP, JI, PPPP, MQM, BNP and ANP attended the sitting.
- Five minority members were present.
Output
- The House adopted five resolutions to restore the educational increments of all Federal Government employees, control the manufacturing of spurious drugs, construct new small dams, do away with load shedding of gas and to set up more hospitals in the Federal Capital.
- Sponsored by MQM lawmaker, the House passed the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2014.
- The House witnessed introduction of five bills including the Controller General of Accounts (Appointment, Functions and Powers) (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Constitution Amendment Bill, 2017 (Amendment in Article 160), the Constitution Amendment Bill, 2017 (Amendment in Article 198) and the Constitution Amendment Bill, 2017 (Amendment in Article 25-A). All these bills were referred to relevant committees for further deliberations.
- A bill – the compulsory Drug Test of Students Bill, 2017 – was dropped due to absence of the concerned lawmaker.
- The House witnessed presentation of nine reports by Standing Committee on Interior about as many bills and one report by Standing Committee on National Health Services on a legislative proposal.
- Another bill – the Acid and Burn Crime Bill, 2017 – was deferred due to absence of mover.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House took up a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding closure of foreign branches of United Bank Limited /Habib Bank Limited which was responded to by Parliamentary Secretary for Finance.
- This House discussed a motion under Rule 259 regarding excessive billing of electricity for 56 minutes. Nine lawmakers spoke on it while Minister for Power wound up the debate.
- Another four motions under Rule 259 were not considered by the House while a CAN was also not taken up.
Order and Institutionalization
- Lawmakers spoke on five Points of Order consuming 16 minutes of the proceedings.
Transparency
- Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- Attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted.