Sindh Assembly Passes Finance Bill, Approves 153 Demands for Grants

  • Budget Session Prorogued

ISLAMABAD, June 16, 2017: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh passed the Sindh Finance Bill, 2017 and approved 153 Demands for Grants on Friday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 9th (last) sitting of the 33rd session:

 Members’ Participation

  • The Sindh Assembly met for six hours and 38 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1136 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
  • The House had a prayer break for an hour and 53 minutes.
  • The Speaker chaired the sitting for three hours and sixteen minutes while rest of the proceeding was chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
  • The Chief Minister and the Opposition Leader attended the entire sitting.
  • Thirty-eight lawmakers (23%) were present at the start and 100 (60%) at the end of the sitting.
  • The Parliamentary Leaders of PPPP and MQM were present.
  • Eight minority members were present.

Output

  • Tabled by the Finance Minister, the House passed the Sindh Finance Bill, 2017.
  • The House approved all 153 Demands for Grants. All Cut Motions (732) moved by Opposition parties on Demands for Grants were rejected by the House.
  • The Finance Minister laid before the House the Schedule of Authorized Expenditure 2017-18 and the Supplementary Schedule of Authorized Expenditure 2016-17.
  • The House adopted a resolution to pay tribute to Late Benazir Bhutto on her birthday on June 21.

Order and Institutionalization

  • Three Points of Order consumed ten minutes of the proceedings.

Transparency

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

This Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation, a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.