ISLAMABAD, November 22, 2016: The Senate passed four government bills and adopted a resolution to condemn missile attack on Makkah during 3rd sitting of its 255th session on Tuesday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are some key observations of the House business:
Members’ Participation
- The Senate met for two hours and 58 minutes.
- The sitting started two minutes late against the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
- The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
- The Deputy Chairman was not present.
- The Leader of the House attended the sitting for two hours and 43 minutes while the Leader of the Opposition was present for an hour and 39 minutes.
- Parliamentary leaders of PTI, MQM, ANP, PML-F, PkMAP, NP, BNP-M and PML-N attended the sitting.
- Twenty-six members (25% of the total membership – 104) were present at the outset and 18 members (17%) at the end of the sitting.
- One minority Senator attended the sitting.
Output
- The Senate passed four bills including the Pakistan Engineering Council (Amendment) Bill, 2016; the Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2016; the Central Law Officers (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
- The House adopted a resolution to condemn missile attack on Makkah and demanded UN and OIC to take notice of it.
- Minister for Law and Justice presented the Companies Ordinance, 2016.
- Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs presented the report about implementation on report of Committee of the Whole regarding policy guidelines in the light of emerging regional realities. He
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House took up a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) about patients tested positive for Hepatitis-C at PIMS during the last one year.
- Another CAN about the non-construction of Chashma-Zhob transmission line was deferred on the request of the mover.
- The House passed 11 motions under Rule 194 (1) to extend the presentation period of as many reports of various Standing Committees.
- The Chair rejected three adjournment motions on `Orders of the Day’ for being in contravention with rules.
- The House took 21 out of 50 starred questions appearing on the agenda. In addition, the lawmakers also asked 42 supplementary questions.
Order and Institutionalization
- Seven Points of Public Importance consumed 22 minutes of the proceedings.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- The attendance of lawmakers is available on the website.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceeding conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted