ISLAMABAD, June 28, 2013: Winding up general discussion on the annual budget, the Leader of the Opposition and the Chief Minister shared their views for 55 and 86 minutes respectively in the eighth sitting of the Sindh Assembly’s third session.
The Opposition moved 1024 Cut Motions of which seven were withdrawn while the rest were disapproved by the House. The House approved 59 Demands for Grants.
Nine members discussed the Charged Expenditures. The Chief Minister spoke on the subject for 12 minutes.
Starting an hour and 32 minutes late, the sitting lasted nine hours and 18 minutes. The Speaker chaired the sitting for six hours and 41 minutes while the remaining proceedings were presided over by the Deputy Speaker.
Following are some key observations of the proceedings:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Sindh Assembly met for nine hours and 18 minutes. The House took a break of two hours and nine minutes.
- The sitting started at 1102 hours against the scheduled starting time of 0930 hours, witnessing a delay of an hour and 32 minutes.
- The Speaker chaired the sitting for six hours and 41 minutes while the remaining proceedings were presided over by the Deputy Speaker.
- As many as 105 members were present at the outset while 124 were there at the time of adjournment. A maximum of 130 members were present at one point of sitting.
- The Chief Minister attended the sitting for six hours and 49 minutes while the Leader of the Opposition remained present for five hours and 13 minutes.
- The Finance Minister was not present.
- Seven minority members attended the sitting.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of the House delivered the wind up speeches on the general discussion on budget, consuming 55 and 86 minutes, respectively.
- The Opposition moved 1024 Cut Motions of which seven were withdrawn while the rest were disapproved by the House.
- The House approved 59 Demands for Grants.
- Nine members discussed the Charged Expenditures for nine minutes. The Chief Minister spoke on the subject for 12 minutes.
Output
- The Chief Minister presented the schedule of authorized supplementary expenditure for the year 2012-13 before the House.
Order and Institutionalization
- Three Points of Order consumed 35 minutes of the sitting time.
- PMLF and PMLN jointly protested for three minutes and then walked of the House for one hour after a PMLF member was not allowed to speak on a Point of Order.
Transparency
- The List of Business (agenda) was available to the legislators, observers and others.
- Information of members’ attendance was available to the observers and the public.
The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), a member organization of FAFEN