Sindh Assembly Passes Four Bills, Adopts Three Resolutions

  • Session Prorogued

ISLAMABAD, July 27, 2020: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh passed four bills and adopted three supplementary resolutions, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Monday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during the third sitting of the 11th session:  

Members’ Participation

  • The House met for three hours and 39 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1330 hours against the scheduled time of 1200 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the entire proceedings.
  • The Deputy Speaker was also present.
  • The Leader of the House did not attend the sitting.
  • The Leader of the Opposition was present for two hours and five minutes.
  • As many as 39 MPAs (23%) were present at the outset and 46 (27%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
  • The Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PTI, MMA and TLP attended the sitting.
  • As many as six out of nine minority lawmakers were also present.

Output

  • The House passed four government bills including the Sindh Covid-19 Emergency Relief (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Sindh Safe Cities Authority Bill, 2019; the Sindh Wildlife Protection, Preservation, Conservation and Management Bill, 2020 and the Drugs (Sindh Amendment) Bill, 2020.
  • The House adopted three supplementary resolutions for forensic audit of K-Electric to end load shedding, give opportunities to new companies other the K-Electric and exempt tax on solar panels.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • The House took up five out of 17 starred questions while lawmakers also asked 26 supplementary questions.
  • An MQM lawmaker withdrew from his privilege motion while an adjournment motion was lapsed due to the absence of mover.
  • The House took up four Call Attention Notices regarding non-provision of water to the residents of Cantonment Board Clifton; poor sewerage system in Korangi Town Karachi, damage to wheat stored at different godowns and non-implementation on SOPs devised for cattle markets.

Order and Institutionalization

  • PTI lawmaker walked out of the House at 1610 hours when the Chair disallowed one of their colleagues to speak on a point of order. He did not return to the House till adjournment of the sitting.
  • The session was prorogued sine die

Transparency                                                              

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

This Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted