ISLAMABAD, June 1, 2012: As the federal budget for 2012-13 was presented in the first sitting of Senate’s 82^nd session, PMLN Senators protested on the issue of Supreme Court’s verdict in the contempt case against the Prime Minister.  The Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue presented the budgetary proposals.

Beginning 33 minutes late, the sitting lasted 14 minutes. The Leader of the House attended the whole sitting while the Opposition remained in the House for four minutes.

The House adopted a Resolution offering condolences on the demise of a former Senator, Mehr Khuda Dad Lak.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business.

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for 14 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1903 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1830 hours. The House proceedings started late by 33 minutes.
• The Chairman chaired the sitting.
• The Leader of the House remained present throughout the sitting while and the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for four minutes.
• The Parliamentary Leaders of the MQM, PMLF, ANP, JUIF, BNPA and ANP attended the sitting.
• Seventy Senators (67% of total Membership) were present at the start, while 81 (78%) were present when the sitting was adjourned.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue presented the budget. The Senate, after the 18^th Amendment of the Constitution, has 14 days to give recommendations on the budget.

Output

• A copy of the Finance Bill was presented to the House.
• The House adopted a Resolution offering condolences on the demise of a former Senator, Mehr Khuda Dad Lak.

Order and Institutionalization

• One Point of Order consumed three minutes of the sitting time.
• PMLN Senators protested over the Supreme Court verdict in the contempt case against the Prime Minister.

Transparency

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

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