ISLAMABAD: The final day of the Senate session saw resurgence of the controversy involving the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2024 with opposition having demanded that the pending result of headcount on the bill be issued — before the House was prorogued, Tuesday, on the completion of the parliamentary year.
Soon after the question hour was over, the opposition senators took up the matter involving the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2024, demanding of Chairman Senate Yousaf Raza Gilani to resolve the issue by making the voting result public.
However, this demand was not met before the session came to an end.
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In an unprecedented move, Deputy Chairman Senate Syedaal Khan had withheld the result of headcount on the legislative draft, last month, despite first holding the voting on this bill, a highly controversial decision strongly criticised by the opposition.
The deputy chairman had also suspended three PTI lawmakers who were protesting against his decision, and ordered the Senate security staff to remove them from the House in 17 February session.
Taking the floor in Tuesday’s session, Mohsin Aziz from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the bill’s mover, said his bill was earlier passed by the Senate following its passage from the relevant standing committee. The bill then landed in the National Assembly where it lapsed due to NA dissolution at that time, he said.
The bill was again moved in Senate, again referred to the relevant Senate committee that unanimously passed the legislative draft, Aziz said. Consequently, the bill was again presented in Senate on 17 February, the PTI senator said, adding that the opposition outnumbered the treasury side during voting on the legislative draft.
“On witnessing this situation, the deputy chairman, who was presiding over the session, sat tight on the voting result. Thrice did he say that he did not accept the voting result. He resorted to highly inappropriate behaviour, and targeted the opposition in a very unfairly manner,” Aziz said, adding that the pending vote counting result was an unfinished agenda of the House’s business from last month that needed to be transacted forthwith.
Gilani, the Senate chief, tendered an apology on behalf of the deputy chairman. “I apologise on his behalf, if anyone’s sentiments have been hurt,” he said.
Law Minister Azam Tarar said the deputy chairman has already clarified his stance, and apologised.
“What was the voting result?” the Senate chief asked the law minister. “There was no result—the result never arrived,” the minister replied.
Tarar said the deputy chairman issued a ruling in which he stated that the government objected to State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2024 taking the stance that the bill collided with Article 74 of the Constitution. “The deputy chairman, in his ruling, made it clear that the bill, under existing circumstances, was being deferred till the issue was resolved—and that voting on this should not have taken place. Therefore, the headcount result was not announced,” the minister said.
The Article 74 provides that a money bill, or a bill or an amendment, which, if enacted, would involve—functions of the SBP, shall not be introduced or moved in the Parliament without the consent of the federal government.
Opposition Leader Shibli Faraz said the voting result was withheld with government’s involvement. “They (government) had lost in the voting. That bill was passed. So, the result was not issued. This bill went through the whole Senate system. It is simply unacceptable how the treasury side reacted on this matter,” he said. The issue remained unresolved, as the chairman Senate left the House citing his other official engagements.
Irfan Siddiqui from Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) chaired the remaining part of the Senate meeting before it was prorogued. The State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2024 aims to “eliminate improper, unjustified and inequitable credit/lending by the commercial banks in their provinces which is leading to continuous deprivation, disparity and slow progress of industrialisation and commercial activities in those provinces,” the smaller provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, in particular.
The bill provides that the minimum credit limit of commercial banks should not be less than 60 percent of their total deposits from that particular province.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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