Sindh Assembly Passes Two Govt Bills

ISLAMABAD, April 22, 2016: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh on Friday passed two government bills during 11th sitting of its ongoing 24th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

  • The Sindh Assembly met for two hours and 32 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1108 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
  • The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
  • The Deputy Speaker was absent.
  • The Chief Minister attended the sitting for 67 minutes.
  • The Opposition Leader attended the sitting for an hour and 38 minutes.
  • 23 lawmakers (14%) were present at the start and 58 (36%) at the end of the sitting.
  • The Parliamentary Leaders of PPPP, MQM, PML-F, PML-N and PTI were present.
  • Three minority members were present.
  • Five members applied for leave.

Output

  • Introduced by the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, the House passed the Sindh Companies Profits (Workers’ Participation) Bill, 2015 and the Benazir Bhutto Shaheed University of Technology and Skill Development Khairpur Bill, 2016.
  • Chairman Standing Committee on Labour and Human Resources presented report on the Sindh Companies Profits (Workers’ Participation) Bill, 2015.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • The government orally responded to three out of six Starred Questions appearing on the agenda. Ina addition, the lawmakers asked 17 supplementary questions.
  • The government responded to five Calling Attention Notices (CANs) appearing on the agenda.
  • The House did not take up a Question of Privilege and an Adjournment Motion due to absence of their movers.

Order and Institutionalization

  • The lawmakers spoke on six Points of Order consuming 10 minutes of the proceeding.
  • Members belonging to MQM staged protest within the House for four minutes over unsatisfactory reply by the government to a CAN moved by one of their fellow member.

Transparency

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

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