ISLAMABAD, December 27, 2021: The Senate referred five private members’ bills to the relevant committees and adopted three resolutions on Monday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during the third sitting of 316th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for four hours and 30 minutes.
• The sitting started at 03:32 pm against the scheduled time of 03:00 pm.
• The chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The deputy chairman was not present.
• The leaders of the house and the opposition attended the entire sitting.
• The Prime Minister was not present.
• As many as 16 lawmakers (16%) were present at the outset and 15 (15%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of JI, PkMAP, PML-N, PML-F, JUI-F, NP, ANP and PML attended the sitting.
• Two minority lawmaker were present.

 Output

• The House passed three private members’ bills which were the Islamabad Rent Restriction (Amendment) Bill, 2021; the Trade Organizations (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2021] (Amendment of section 195).
• The House witnessed introduction of three private members’ bills which included the Banking Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2021; the Registration (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and the Control of Narcotic Substances (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
• A bill – the Pakistan Psychological Council Bill, 2021 – was moved after the passage from National Assembly and it was referred to the relevant committee for deliberation.
• Another bill – the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 – as reported by the Standing Committee was again referred to it for further consideration.
• Three bills were deferred on the request of movers which included the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2021 (Amendment of Articles 175A, 181, 182, 183, 184, 195, 196, 197 and 209); the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2021 (Amendment of Articles 1, 51, 59, 106, 154, 175A, 198 and 218) and the Regulation of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
• The House adopted three resolutions urging upon the government to ensure representation of all federating units in the Federal Public Service Commission Islamabad, take special measures for implementing the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act, 2017 in letter and spirit and give incentives similar to other countries for promotion of electric vehicles.
• A PTI lawmaker withdrew the Federal Public Service Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2020 following a motion under Rule 115.

Representation and Responsiveness 

• The House discussed three motions under Rule 218 regarding the issue of placement of educational institutions situated in Islamabad, measures taken by Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency for conservation of environment and implementation of National Emigration and Welfare Policy for Overseas Pakistanis 2020. Twenty-four lawmakers participated in debate on these motions separately and consumed two hours and 19 minutes of the proceedings.
• Another motion under Rule 218 was deferred which was regarding mushroom growth of illegal housing societies on the agriculture lands in Islamabad.
• Twelve lawmakers spoke on points of public importance for 40 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• The House was adjourned to meet again on Wednesday, December 29, 2021 at 10:30 am.

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 Senate proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted