ISLAMABAD, February 3, 2017: The National Assembly passed the Alternate Dispute Resolution Bill 2016 unanimously and deferred the Companies Bill, 2016 for a later sitting on Friday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during seventh sitting of the 39th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for two hours and 49 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1033 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for one and a half hours while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the proceedings.
- The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- Twenty-seven lawmakers (8%) were present at the outset and 18 (5%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, JI, BNP-A, AMLP and QWP-S attended the sitting.
- Four minority members were present.
Output
- The House passed the Alternate Dispute Resolution Bill, 2016 unanimously. Seven lawmakers debated the bill for an hour and five minutes.
- The Companies Bill, 2016 was deferred for a later sitting on treasury’s request.
- Parliamentary Secretary for Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatization laid the Fiscal and Debt Policy Statements 2016-2017 and First Quarterly Report 2016-2017 of the Board of Directors of the State Bank of Pakistan on the state of Pakistan’s Economy.
- Chairman of the Standing Committee on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan and a member of the Standing Committee on Ports and Shipping presented the Periodical Reports of their respective committees before the House.
- On behalf of the Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination, a PPPP lawmaker presented the Annual report of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) for the year 2015-2016.
Representation and Responsiveness
- As many as 15 out of 35 Starred Questions were taken up and answered during the Question Hour. The lawmakers asked 20 supplementary questions as well.
- The House took up a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding non-inclusion of NA-47 in the (RRU) for rehabilitation/reconstruction works. Another CAN about illegal maternity clinics in Islamabad was not addressed.
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.