ISLAMABAD Pakistan: The Senate of Pakistan passed 54 bills including 13 private members bills during its Calendar year 2016.
Senate this year received 2695 starred questions out of which 2344 were admitted while 374 motions under rule 218, were admitted in the House out of 455 motions received by the House. Senate during its Parliamentary Calender 2016 received 2,695 starred questions out of which 2,344 were admitted.
Meanwhile, 470 calling attention notices were received in the Senate this year. 92 were discussed in House and were responded to by the ministers concerned.
Parliamentary Year of the Senate starts from 12th March of each year and ends on 11th March of the next year.
One political party mostly refrained from attending sessions and participating in parliamentary process that was Pakistan Tehrik e Insaaf (PTI).
The breakup of the Bills and Motions is as under:
Private Members’ Bills
During the said period forty-three (43) Private Members’ Bills were introduced in the Senate. Out of which thirty-five (35) Bills were referred to the Standing Committees concerned whereas eight (08) Bills were not referred to the Standing Committee as those were drafted by the Committee of the Whole and were passed by the Senate. Out of the remaining Private Members’ Bills, the Senate passed only five Bills and the remaining Bills are still pending. The Senate also passed the Bill titled the Panama Papers Inquires Bill, 2016 without report of the Standing Committee as the Standing Committee concerned could not present its report within the stipulated time period.
Government Bills
During the period, the Senate passed forty-one (41) Bills out of which thirty-six (36) Bills were received from the National Assembly, one Bill titled the Constitution (Twenty-second Amendment) Bill, 2016, was passed by the Senate without referring to the Standing Committee concerned and the remaining thirty-five (35) Bills were referred to the Standing Committees concerned and after detailed discussion and deliberations at the Committee stage, these Bills were passed by the Senate. One (01) Bill titled the Futures Market Bill, 2016, was introduced in the Senate and referred to the Standing Committee was also passed by the Senate. Four (04) Ordinances which were first laid in the Senate and treated as Bills were also passed by the Senate.
Questions
Senate this year received 2695 starred questions out of which 2344 were admitted, 101 were disallowed and 250 lapsed. 1305 starred questions were replied, 15 were referred to standing committees and 1013 lapsed. 76 un-starred questions were admitted out of 78 and 44 of the admitted questions received replies.
Motions under rule 60
10 out of 14 motions received under rule 60 were admitted in the House. 5 were discussed in the sittings of House and 5 were lapsed. Out of 455 motions received under rule 218, 374 were admitted in the House. Discussion was held on 49 motions, 4 were referred to standing committees, 19 were dropped and 300 motions lapsed.
Resolutions
372 resolutions were received this year from different members of the Senate out of which 303 were admitted. 70 resolutions were passed by the House, 2 were rejected, 3 were withdrawn, 2 referred to standing committees, 22 were dropped due to absence of members and 203 resolutions were admitted but lapsed.
Privilege Motions
A total of 17 privilege motions were received in Senate this year. 7 of these motions were referred to privilege committee, nine are under process and one was withdrawn by the mover.
Adjournment Motions
264 adjournment motions were received this year. Among others, 40 were declared out of order, 28 were discussed in the House, 12 were referred to standing committees, 12 were withdrawn and 45 were dropped.
Calling Attention Notices
470 calling attention notices were received in the Senate this year. 92 were discussed in House and were responded to by the ministers concerned, 98 were disallowed, 10 were referred to standing committees and 153 were admitted but lapsed.
Committee Meetings
Total number of committee meetings held this year by end November is 463. Different standing, functional and special committees of Senate examined 40 items of legislative and 62 items of non-legislative business. 26 bills examined by committees were reported back to the House and 50 matters including standing orders, petitions and questions were referred back to House after consideration and discussion.
A number of new committees were formed this year to address issues which do not come under direct jurisdiction of the already present committees. Committee on Delegated Legislation, Committee on Marginalized segments of Society and a special Committee to explore the possibility and prepare the case of Mr. Abdul SattarEdhi for award of Nobel Prize were formed to scrutinize and report to the Senate of Pakistan on matters pertaining to rules, regulations, by-laws or other statutory instruments conferred by the Constitution or delegated by the Parliament, to liaise with organizations already working for marginalized segments of society. It will review the existing laws pertaining to the rights of marginalized segments of society and propose legislative reforms and to consider and prepare Edhi’s case for the Nobel Prize respectively.
Committee of the whole, an initiative of Senate last year, gave many crucial outputs this year. The eights bills drafted by the Committee of the whole on speedy and inexpensive justice were passed by the House this year. The committee to consider mode of elections of members of Senate also presented its first report in May this year which called for adhering to the present system but also asked for making it more transparent. The committee of the whole also discussed this year the legislative, administrative and other measures required for mainstreaming FATA and on the need for revival of student unions in the country separately. The Senate of Pakistan has also constituted this year committees on devolution, delegated legislation and ethics.
On 26th September, 2016, the House constituted a committee of the whole to prepare policy guidelines in light of emerging regional realities and role of United States. The Committee of the Whole held an in-camera meeting on 29th September, 2016, to seek briefing from the Government on the situation between India and Pakistan. After detailed and extensive deliberations, the Chairman Senate constituted a Drafting Committee, comprising of following Senators, to prepare draft policy guidelines and bring the same before the Committee of Whole.
A set of 22 policy guidelines was prepared by the drafting committee and approved by the committee of the whole. The guidelines included constituting a task force for formulating a doable and sustainable India/Kashmir policy, a Media Coordination Committee including selected journalists plus representatives of the Foreign Office, Ministry of Information, parliament and intelligence to prepare fact sheets and a counter-propaganda campaign against India, periodical/ regular special briefings for the foreign media, re-establishing a Public Diplomacy Office in the Foreign Office, supporting all initiatives taken for peace and stability in the region, a non-episodic role / engagement of OIC in the Kashmir issue, a firm stance on the Indus Water Treaty , having a full-time foreign minister among others.
