ISLAMABAD, June 16, 2016: The Senate concluded debate on the Finance Bill 2016 during the 11^th sitting of its 249^th session on Thursday, reports the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

In all, 63 lawmakers participated in debate on a commenced motion to make recommendations to National Assembly on the Finance Bill, 2016 and they spoke on it for 16 hours and 12 minutes.

The Senate made 139 recommendations on the Finance Bill 2016 which will be forwarded to the National Assembly for consideration.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for two hours and 28 minutes.
• The sitting started one minute late against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
• The Chairman chaired the sitting for 123 minutes while rest of the proceeding was presided over by a member of Panel of Presiding Officer.
• The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for 140 minutes while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 64 minutes.
•  Finance Minister did not attend the sitting.
•  Parliamentary leaders of BNP-M, MQM, PML-F, PML-N, PML, PkMAP and PPPP attended the sitting.
• Eleven members (10% of the total membership – 104) were present at the outset and 24 members (23%) at the end of the sitting.
• Two minority Senators attended the sitting.

Output

• The House passed three bills including the Foreign Exchange Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2016; the Corporate Restructuring Companies Bill, 2016 and the Financial Institutions (Secured Transactions) Bill, 2016.
• Chairman Standing Committee on Finance presented report regarding recommendations on the Finance Bill, 2016, containing the Annual Budget Statement. Later, these recommendations were adopted by the House.
• Chairman Committee on Rules or Procedure and Privileges presented two separate reports on the breach of privilege of the House.
• Chairman Standing  Committee on National Food Security and Research presented sixth follow- up  report regarding  proposed conversion of 1400 acres  land  of National  Agricultural  Research  Centre (NARC) by  the  Capital  Development Authority (CDA) into residential/commercial plots.
• The House adopted special report on sea intrusion causing land erosion in coastal areas of Sindh and Balochistan.
• Another report of the joint meeting of the Senate Standing Committees on Defence and Foreign Affairs in compliance with the Ruling of the Chairman Senate on May 12, 2016 was also presented.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Chair did not admit an adjournment motion for being in contravention with rules. It was regarding media reports about statement of an alleged target killer belonging to a political party during interrogation for being assigned task to kill Senator Shahi Syed and others. However, the Chair asked the sponsors to take up this serious issue separately.
• The House took up two Calling Attention Notices (CANs). The first CAN was regarding import of whey powder and meat affecting local farmers associated with livestock while other notice was about bad affect on the efficacy of drugs due to non-maintenance of temperature by the Pharmaceutical Companies during transportation of drugs.
• The House passed a motion under Rule 194 (1) to extend the deadline for presenting report on the Financial  Institutions  (Recovery  of  Finances)  (Amendment)  Bill,  2016.
• Two Senators expressed their views on a commenced motion to make recommendations to National Assembly on the Finance Bill, 2016.They spoke on it for 45 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization 

• Four Points of Public Importance consumed 13 minutes of the proceeding.
• The entire Opposition staged walkout of the House for three minutes against absence of Finance Minister during budgetary debate.

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 proceeding conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted