ISLAMABAD, October 4, 2016: The Senate witnessed introduction of two bills and presentation of four reports during the seventh sitting of its 253rd session on Tuesday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
The Senate Chairman acknowledged the guided tour of FAFEN delegation to the newly inaugurated “Gali-e-Dastoor” and termed it the first organization to have visited the gallery, which has been established for the people of Pakistan.
Following are some key observations of the House business:
Members’ Participation
- The Senate met for three hours and seven minutes.
- The sitting started four minutes behind the scheduled time of 1500 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 55 minutes while the Leader of the Opposition remained present for an hour and 20 minutes.
- Parliamentary leaders of JUI-F, PkMAP, MQM, PPPP, BNP-M, PML-N, ANP, PTI, PML-F and NP attended the sitting.
- Twenty-one lawmakers (20% of the total membership – 104) were present at the outset and 18 members (17%) at the end of the sitting.
- Three minority Senators attended the sitting.
Output
- The House witnessed the introduction of two bills, including The Plant Breeders’ Rights Bill, 2016 and The National Command Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
- The House also witnessed presentation of four reports by various committees.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House discussed a Motion under Rule 60 regarding the names of the persons / firms who obtained loans of Rs 5 million or above from the National Bank of Pakistan during the last five years. Twelve lawmakers participated in the discussion for 47 minutes.
- The House took up two Calling Attention Notices (CANs). The first CAN was about mismanagement in the affairs of EOBI while the other notice was regarding illegal sale of the government owned residential quarters situated at old federal residential colonies in Karachi.
- The House took up 22 out of 32 Starred Questions appearing on the agenda. In addition, the lawmakers also asked 43 Supplementary Questions.
- The Chair did not admit any of the three Adjournment Motions appearing on the agenda.
Order and Institutionalization
- Eight Points of Public Importance consumed 30 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 proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted