The opposition lawmakers in the Senate on Monday staged a walkout from the House in protest after chairman Senate did not allow them to speak on the recent increase in POL prices, especially ahead of Ramazan. The quorum was pointed out by Senator Yousaf Badni moments after the opposition MPS walked out of the House, as there were only 12 members in the House when the counting was made on the orders of the Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani.
After ringing the bells for five minutes, count was made which also did not work as there were only 14 members in the House, which left the chair with no option but to suspend the proceedings for thirty minutes. Leader of the House in Senate Shibli Faraz held talks with opposition MPs, but all ended up in smoke, as they did not return. Faraz said that the opposition prefers to have a cup of tea over House business.
As the House reconvened, only eleven senators were present in the House, which forced the chair to adjourn the proceedings till Tuesday morning. Senator Javed Abbasi was on his feet after the 16-point agenda of the day was disposed of and wanted to express his views on oil and gas-related issues. But he was not allowed. The chair contended that they would be given ample time to have debate and he was prepared to even sit till 10:00pm, insisting on completion of the agenda first.
Earlier, the chair gave floor to Leader of Opposition Raja Zafarul Haq, who also said that price hike is a very important issue and there should be no difference of opinion on this, adding there should be debate, as this would also give opportunity to the government to explain its position thereon. He pointed out that the increase in prices of petroleum products would have impact on the economy and every sphere of life.
Faraz said it is very unfortunate that the opposition senators would speak with their faces towards the galleries instead of letting the House to exhaust its agenda first. "You may have debate but don't try to turn the Senate into a Rajwara," he said.
"We are ready for debate and will show mirror to the opposition. They may talk oil prices and we will explain as to what exactly had happened in the past," he contended. Senator Abbasi said that they are silent till the time legislative business is done.
PPP Parliamentary Leader Senator Sherry Rehman presented the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Substitution of Article 84) in the House. The bill aims at substitution of Article 84 of the Constitution, to curtail the practice of expenditures in excess and that of supplementary grants, except in dire need or uncertainty.
Speaking on the floor of the House, she explained, "Parliament has the authority to pass supplementary budgets under emergency situations and that is exactly what Article 84 is, an emergency clause. But now, it is continuously being exploited. Entire budgets should be passed after undergoing parliamentary oversight. In the UK as well as in the neighbouring India, supplementary grants are passed through the Parliament."
She pointed out, "We have noticed that over the past 10 years, the supplementary grants have dramatically increased. So much so, in the last fiscal year, supplementary grants increased by 93% compared to 2017. This is tax payer's money, how can such a substantial increase in supplementary grants bypass the Parliament."
Senator Sherry contended that PTI's former finance minister had also acknowledged that in the interests of better governance, supplementary grants should be phased out. However, he was unable to do it and the incoming finance minister had already passed some supplementary grants in the ECC meeting.
"We have seen in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that there is a growing reliance on supplementary grants amongst institutions. Ideally, the National Assembly should be authorising this but presently it falls on the PAC. The amounts of these grants are consistently increasing but the Parliament is oblivious to it. On this basis, I would like this bill to be passed onto the committee for approval and consideration," she said.
Later, through voice vote, the chair referred the bill to the House standing committee concerned for deliberations and report, rejecting Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Muhammad Azam Swati's proposal that the Finance Ministry should give its opinion on the bill first.
Five bills were also introduced in the House, which were referred to the respective standing committees of the Senate: these included; the Anti-Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill, 2019, the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2019, the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2019], the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019] and the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
An interesting situation was witnessed in the House when PML-N Senator Ghous Muhammad Niazi's bill to amend the Companies Act, 2017, was opposed by Senator Musadiq Malik, citing some reasons. However, the chair permitted Niazi to move the bill, which was referred to the House committee.
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