Finance Bill Presented in Senate

ISLAMABAD, June 12, 2020: The Minister for Industries and Production presented a copy of the Finance Bill 2020 in Senate on Friday, observes the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during the fourth sitting of 299th session:

Members’ Participation

  • The House met for 50 minutes.
  • The sitting started at the 1702 hours against the scheduled time of 1700 hours.
  • The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
  • The Deputy Chairman was not present.
  • The Leader of the House attended the entire sitting.
  • The Leader of the Opposition was not present.
  • As many as 19 lawmakers (18%) were present at the outset and 12 (11%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of BNP-M, PPPP and PkMAP attended the sitting.
  • Two out of four minority lawmakers were also present.

Output

  • Minister for Industries and Production presented a copy of the Finance Bill, 2020 in the House containing the Annual Budget Statement. He also sought Senate recommendations, if any, to be forwarded to the National Assembly on the Finance Bill 2020.
  • The Chairman Senate asked the members of the House to submit their recommendations to the Senate Standing Committee on Finance till June 15.
  • Minister for Information and Broadcasting presented the Financial Institutions (Secured Transactions) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020.
  • He also presented reports of 1st Biannual Monitoring on the Implementation of NFC Award (July-December, 2018) and 2nd Biannual Monitoring on the Implementation of NFC Award (January-June, 2019). A PPPP lawmaker spoke on these reports for five minutes.

 Representation and Responsiveness

  • Five lawmakers spoke on points of public importance for 32 minutes.

 Order and Institutionalization 

  • An NP lawmaker walked out from the proceedings of the House at 1748 hours against a crime incident in Balochistan. The Opposition lawmakers joined also joined him in the walkout and they did not return to the House till adjournment of sitting.
  • The House was adjourned to meet again on June 15, 2020 (Monday) at 1600 hours.

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