ISLAMABAD, June 12, 2012: Starting an hour late, the last sitting of Senate’s 82^nd session, which met for an hour and 28 minutes, took up 145 suggestions on budget on Tuesday.

Two Senators spoke on the Annual Budget Statement – one each from JUIF and PML – for 50 minutes (57% of sitting time).

The federal accounts for the financial year 2010-2011 and the reports of Auditor General thereon for the Audit year 2011-2012 as required under Article 171 of the Constitution was presented to the House.

The Finance Committee of the Upper House, which met for nine sittings, received 287 suggestions on budget from its Members. However, of them 145 were accepted. These will be forwarded to the National Assembly.

Only 11 legislators present at the start and 28 when the sitting was adjourned.

The Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• Senate met for one hour and 28 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1800 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1700 hours. The House proceedings started late by 60 minutes.
• The Chairman chaired the sitting. The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of MQM, NP and ANP attended the sitting.
• Eleven Senators (11% of total Membership) were present at the start, while 28 (27%) were present when the sitting was adjourned.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Two Senators spoke on the Annual Budget Statement – one each from JUIF and PML – for 50 minutes (57% of sitting time).
• The federal accounts for the financial year 2010-2011 and the reports of Auditor General thereon for the audit year 2011-2012 as required under Article 171 of the Constitution was presented to the House.
• The Finance Committee of the Upper House, which met for nine sittings, received 287 suggestions on budget from its Members. However, of them 145 were accepted. These will be forwarded to the National Assembly

Output

• The Senate approved the 145 suggestions made by the Finance Committee. These will be forwarded to the National Assembly.

Order and Institutionalization

• Two Points of Order consumed four minutes of the sitting time.
• Protesting against the law and order in Karachi MQM Members staged a four-minute walkout.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Senators’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
• The copies of the budget speech were available to Senators.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), a member organization of FAFEN