Sindh PA Passes Finance Bill, 2020 amid Opposition’s Protest

ISLAMABAD, June 27, 2020: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh Passed the Finance Bill, 2020 amid Opposition’s protest and approved 157 Demands for Grants for the upcoming fiscal year, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet on Saturday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during ninth sitting of the 10th session:

 Members’ Participation

  • The House met for 48 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1420 hours against the scheduled time of 1200 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
  • The Leaders of the House and the Opposition attended the entire proceedings.
  • As many as 47 MPAs (28%) were present at the outset and 56 (33%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
  • The Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, GDA and PTI attended the sitting.
  • As many as five out of nine minority lawmakers were also present. 

Output

  • The House approved 43 Demands for Grants on the Supplementary Budget for the year 2019-20 and did not consider four cut motions due to the absence of relevant movers.
  • The Leader of the House (Chief Minister) laid the schedule of authorized supplementary expenditure for the year, 2019-20 and the schedule of authorized expenditure for the year, 2020-21.
  • The House approved Provincial Budget and 157 Demands for Grants for the year 2020-21.

Order and Institutionalization

  • The Opposition lawmakers protested during the process of approval of budget and Demands for Grants.
  •  The House was adjourned to meet again on June 29, 2020 (Monday) at 1200 hours

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