NA Passes Three Government Bills

ISLAMABAD, February 14, 2018: The National Assembly on Wednesday passed three government bills and took up a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding dilapidated condition of houses in various sectors of Islamabad, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during third sitting of the 52nd session:

Members’ Participation

  • The National Assembly met for two hours and 31 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1035 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the sitting for 53 minutes while rests of the proceedings were chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
  • The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) and the Opposition Leader did not attend the sitting.
  • As many as 31 (9%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 42 (12%) at the adjournment of sitting.
  • The Parliamentary Leaders of PkMAP, APML, PPPP, BNP-A ANP, JI, AJIP and QWP attended the sitting.
  • Five minority members were present.

Output

  • Tabled by Minister for Human Rights, the House passed the Islamabad Capital Territory Child Protection Bill, 2017 and the Juvenile Justice System Bill, 2017.
  • Minister for Science and Technology and Defence Production tabled the  National University of Technology Bill, 2018 which was also passed by the House.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • The House took up a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding dilapidated condition of houses in Sectors G-6, G-7 and F-6, Islamabad due to non-maintenance. It was responded to by Minister for Capital Administration and Development Division.
  • Another CAN about loss of more than 15 billion units of electricity by public-sector power generation companies during the last two years as revealed by NEPRA was deferred on request of the relevant minister.
  • The House took up eight out of 30 Starred Questions for answers during the Question Hour. The lawmakers asked 21 supplementary questions.
  • As many as thirteen lawmakers raised the matters of public importance under Rule 18 consuming 54 minutes of the proceedings.
  • The House did not address the Motion of Thanks to the President for his address to the Parliament.

Transparency

  • ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
  • Attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted.