ISLAMABAD, February 15, 2016: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh passed two government bills amidst protest by Opposition benches on Monday during 14th sitting of its 23rd session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Some key observations are as follows:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Sindh Assembly met for four hours and 48 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1106 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
- Seventeen (10%) lawmakers were present at the start and 60 (36%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The Speaker chaired the sitting for three hours and 52 minutes while the remaining proceeding was presided over by the Deputy Speaker.
- The Chief Minister attended the sitting for 52 minutes.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for two hours and 53 minutes.
- Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PML-F, PML-N and PTI were present.
- Six minority members attended the sitting.
- Three members applied for leave.
Output
- The House passed the Sindh Hindus Marriage Bill 2016 and the Sindh Sales Tax on Services (Amendment) Bill 2015.
- The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs introduced the Sindh Employees Social Security Bill 2016 and the Sindh Service Tribunals (Amendment) Bill 2016.
- Another three government bills – the Sindh Payment of Wages Bill, 2015, the Sindh Workers’ Compensation Bill, 2015 and the Societies Registration (Sindh Amendment) Bill, 2015 – were not considered by the House.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House took up six out of eleven starred questions appearing on the agenda. In addition, lawmakers asked 29 supplementary questions.
- Four out of five Calling Attention Notices (CANs) appearing on the list of business were taken up and responded to by the relevant departments. All these notices were about governance issues. One CAN was not taken up due to movers’ absence.
- An Adjournment Motion (AM) regarding death of children in Khairpur Civil Hospital was not taken up due to absence of its mover.
- A privilege motion on the agenda was not taken up due to absence of mover.
Order and Institutionalization
- Lawmakers spoke on seven Points of Order consuming ten minutes of the proceeding.
- An MQM lawmaker staged walkout for ten minutes over unsatisfactory reply of Minister for Health in response to a supplementary question raised by him.
- MQM members also protested within the House for four minutes against the presentation of the Sindh Sales Tax on Services (Amendment) Bill, 2015.
Transparency
- “Orders of the Day” was available to the legislators, observers and others.
- Information on legislators’ attendance was available to the observers and the public.
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This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.