ISLAMABAD, February 27, 2013: Starting an hour and 13 minutes late, the 13^th sitting of the Sindh Assembly’s 40th session passed five bills and adopted two resolutions, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet based on Direct Observation of Sindh Assembly.

Five bills – the Dawood University of Engineering and Technology Bill 2013, the Sindh Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Bill 2013, the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Dewan University Bill 2011, the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto University of Law, Karachi Bill 2012 and the Sindh Public Procurement (Amendment) Bill 2013 – appearing on the agenda were unanimously passed by the House.

Two resolutions condemning terrorist activities in Shikarpur and Jacobabad, and calling upon the provincial government to set up a university in Hyderabad were adopted.

Sixty-eight Members were present at the start while 80 were there at the time of adjournment.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Sindh Assembly met for four hours and 41 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1113 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1000 hours, witnessing the delay of an hour and 13 minutes.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the sitting for three hours and 48 minutes while the remaining time was presided over by a Member of Panel of Chairpersons.
• The Chief Minister attended the sitting for an hour and 10 minutes.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PMLF, NPP, PMLQ (F-B) and ANP were present.
• Sixty-eight Members were present at the start while 80 were there at the time of adjournment. A maximum of 130 members were present at one point of sitting.
• Six minority members were present.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Ten questions appearing on the agenda were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministries. Additionally, 28 supplementary questions were asked.

Output

• Five bills – the Dawood University of Engineering and Technology Bill 2013, the Sindh Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Bill 2013, the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Dewan University Bill 2011, the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto University of Law, Karachi Bill 2012 and the Sindh Public Procurement (Amendment) Bill 2013 – appearing on the agenda were passed by the House.
• The House adopted two resolutions. One condemned the terrorist activities in Shikarpur and Jacobabad, and the other called upon the provincial government to set up a university in Hyderabad.

Order and Institutionalization

• Eight Points of Order were raised.
• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to the legislators, observers and others.

 

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