ISLAMABAD, August 08, 2014: The National Assembly witnessed the introduction of The Seed (Amendment) Bill, 2014 during 5th sitting of the 14th session on Friday, says the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
The Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research tabled the bill in the House.
The House took up one calling attention notice regarding imposition of massive sales tax on the import of solar panels, causing grave concern amongst the public.
Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:
Members’ Participation in the House Proceedings:
- The National Assembly met for an hour and 37 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1105 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours, witnessing a delay of 35 minutes.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
- The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present for an hour and 32 minutes.
- The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, MQM, BNP-A, ANP, AMLP, QWP-S and APML attended the sitting.
- Eighty-two lawmakers were present at the outset while 68 at the adjournment of the sitting. A maximum of 142 members were observed to be present at one point during the sitting.
- Six minority members attended the sitting.
- Six members applied for leave.
Output
- Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research introduced The Seed (Amendment) Bill, 2014 in the National Assembly.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Sixteen of 41 starred questions on the agenda were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministers while 16 supplementary questions were also asked.
Order and Institutionalization
- Four points of order consumed 14 minutes of the proceedings time.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
- Information on members’ attendance was not available to observers and the public.
This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of FAFEN and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union. This Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI); a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions excepted
