ISLAMABAD, June 29, 2013: Amid the opposition’s protest and walkout, the Sindh Assembly passed the finance bill 2013 during the ninth sitting of its third session which was prorogued on Saturday. The sitting was delayed by an hour and 38 minutes.

As the Chief Minister moved the motion for the passage of the finance bill, the entire opposition – MQM, PMLN, PTI, PMLF – protested against the property tax and the general sales tax on services proposed in the budget. The members on the opposition benches walked out of the house and did not return to attend the proceedings.

The Schedule of Authorized Expenditure for the year 2013-2104 was also laid before the house by the Chief Minister.

The sitting chaired by the Speaker was attended by 110 MPAs at the start of the proceedings and 80 members were present at the end. A maximum of 121 members were present at one point during the proceedings. The Leader of the Opposition and the Minister for Finance did not attend the proceedings.

Following are some key observations of the proceedings:

Members Participation in the House Proceedings

·         The Sindh Assembly met for an hour and 26 minutes.

·         The sitting started at 1108 hours against the scheduled starting time of 0930

hours, witnessing a delay of an hour and 38 minutes.

·         The Speaker chaired the sitting for an hour and 26 minutes while the

Deputy Speaker was also present.

·         As many as 110 members were present at the outset while 80 were there at the

time of adjournment. A maximum of 121 members were present at one point during the proceedings.

·         The Chief Minister attended the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was absent.

·         The Finance Minister was not present.

·         Six minority members attended the sitting.

·         A PPPP legislator took oath during the proceedings.

 None of the members applied for leave.

Output

·         The House passed the Sindh Finance Bill 2013 unanimously in the absence of the opposition.

·         The Chief Minister laid the Schedule of Authorized Expenditure for the year 2013-14.

Order and Institutionalization

·         Lawmakers spoke on four points of order consuming 33 minutes of the proceedings.

·         The entire opposition staged a 40-minute walkout to protest against the property tax and the general sales tax on services in the budget. The opposition did not return to attend the rest of the proceedings.

Transparency

·         The List  of Business (agenda) was available to the legislators, observers and

others.

·         Information of members attendance was available to the observers and the public.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), a member organization of FAFEN