ISLAMABAD, December 30, 2021: The government introduced the Finance (Supplementary) Bill, 2021 in the National Assembly and adopted eight resolutions to extend as many ordinances amid protest by the opposition parties, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet on Thursday.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during fifth sitting of the 39th session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for an hour and 22 minutes.
•  The sitting started at 04:43 pm against the scheduled time of 04:00 pm.
• The speaker chaired the entire sitting.
• The deputy speaker was also present.
• The leaders of the house (Prime Minister) and the opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 108 (32 percent) lawmakers were present at the outset and 157 (46 percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• Parliamentary leaders of PML-N, MMAP, AMLP and PML attended the sitting.
• Seven minority lawmakers were present.

 Output

• Minister for finance and revenue introduced the Finance (Supplementary) Bill, 2021 in the House. Later, he also introduced the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2021 which was referred to the relevant committee.
• The House adopted eight resolutions seeking extension of as many ordinance which were the Federal Government Properties Management Authority Ordinance, 2021; the Elections (Third Amendment) Ordinance, 2021; the Public Properties (Removal of Encroachment) Ordinance, 2021; the Regulation of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021; the Public Private Partnership Authority (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021; the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021; the Pakistan Food Security Flow and Information Ordinance, 2021 and the Tax Laws (Third Amendment) Ordinance, 2021. The first six ordinances were adopted with effect from back dates and the Chair gave a ruling about their passage as per rules.
• On behalf of Chairperson Standing Committee on Federal Education, Professional Training, a member of the committee presented report on the University of Engineering and Emerging Technology Bill, 2021.
• Moved by Adviser to Prime Minister on parliamentary affairs, the House passed a motion after voice voting to suspend the question hour and calling attention notices appearing on the agenda.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• A motion of thanks to the President for his address to both Houses and a motion under Rule 259 were not taken up.

Order and Institutionalization

• Eight lawmakers spoke on points of order for 49 minutes.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Friday, December 31, 2021 at 11:00 am.

Transparency

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