ISLAMABAD, October 3, 2016: The National Assembly passed three government bills related to judiciary while leaving half of the business unaddressed on Monday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during sixth sitting of the 36th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for two hours and 48 minutes.
- The proceedings remained suspended for 28 minutes due to prayer break.
- The sitting started at 1715 hours against the scheduled time of 1700 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting except for last 18 minutes when the Deputy Speaker chaired the proceedings.
- The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 18 minutes.
- Fifty-five lawmakers (16%) were present at the outset and 29 (8%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PkMAP, JI, BNP-A, APML, AMLP, QWP-S and ANP attended the sitting.
- Seven minority members were present.
Output
- The House passed The Central Law Officers (Amendment) Bill, 2016, The Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and The Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
- Minister for Law & Justice presented the Report of the Federal Accounts for the Financial Year, 2014-2015 and the reports of the Auditor General for the Audit Year 2015-2016.
- The remaining legislative agenda (three government bills) were not taken up.
Representation and Responsiveness
- As many as seven out of 33 Starred Questions were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministers during Question Hour. The lawmakers also asked nine Supplementary Questions.
- Four lawmakers took part in the discussion on FATA reforms that consumed an hour and nine minutes.
- The House did not take up two Calling Attention Notices on agenda.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- The 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.