ISLAMABAD, February 6, 2015: Starting 28 minutes behind schedule, the fifth (last) sitting of the Senate’s 110th session witnessed the introduction of two bills and presentation of an ordinance amid low attendance of lawmakers.

Only four senators (4%) were present at the start of the sitting and 29 (28%) at the time of adjournment.  A maximum of 36 members (35%) were present at one point of the sitting.

The Minister for Commerce introduced the Companies (Amendment) Bill 2015 and the Stock Exchanges (Corporatization, Demutualization and Integration) (Amendment) Bill 2015 which were both referred to the relevant standing committees.

The minister also laid the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess Ordinance 2014 and a report on the first biannual monitoring of the implementation of National Finance Commission (NFC) Award for July-December 2013.

The House adopted an amendment in the Rules of Procedure proposed by a PML senator regarding the election of the Senate Forum for Policy Research Chairman. On the other hand, a calling attention notice (CAN) regarding the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination’s failure to come up with a uniform purchase price for sugarcane in Sindh and Punjab was left unaddressed.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for an hour and 37 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1058 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Chairman was absent.
• Four members (4%) were present at the start and 29 (28%) at the end of the sitting.
• A maximum of 36 senators (35%) were present at one point of the sitting.
• The Leader of the House and the Opposition Leader attended the entire sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PML-F, ANP and PML were present.
• Only one out of four minority member was present in the House.

Output

• The Minister for Commerce introduced the Companies (Amendment) Bill 2015 and the Stock Exchanges (Corporatization, Demutualization and Integration) (Amendment) Bill 2015. Both bills were referred to the relevant standing committees.
• The minister also laid the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess Ordinance 2014 and a report on the first biannual monitoring of the implementation of National Finance Commission (NFC) Award for July-December 2013.
• The House adopted an amendment in the Rules of Procedure proposed by a PML senator regarding the election of the Senate Forum for Policy Research Chairman.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Nine out of 47 starred questions appearing on the agenda were answered by the relevant ministries/departments, while the senators raised 24 supplementary questions.
• The House discussed the recent petrol crisis and considered a joint committee report on the issue. An ANP senator participated in the discussion for 10 minutes.
• A CAN regarding the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination’s failure to come up with a uniform purchase price for sugarcane in Sindh and Punjab was left unaddressed.

Order and Institutionalization

• Two points of order consumed five minutes of the proceeding’s time.
• No protests/walkouts/boycotts were witnessed during the sitting.

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This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of FAFEN and in no way reflect the views of the European Union. This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are regretted