ISLAMABAD: The inaugural session of the 16th National Assembly will be held on February 29 under Article 91 (2) of the Constitution with President Arif Alvi rejecting an earlier summary for summoning the session on the reported grounds of non-allocation of reserved seats to Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).
Informed sources told Business Recorder that Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervez Ashraf chaired a consultative meeting on Monday after President Alvi rejected the summary and returned it with reservations of incomplete process of allocation of the reserved seats.
They said that after consultations with senior officials from Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Ministry of Law and Justice, it was decided that the summary signed by the caretaker Prime Minister will be sent to the Speaker National Assembly directly for summoning of the session instead of the President.
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The sources said that the decision was taken under Article 91 (2) of the Constitution which states: “The National Assembly shall meet on the twenty-first day following the day on which a general election to the Assembly is held, unless sooner summoned by the President.”
On Saturday, the sources said that the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs sent a summary to the President to summon the National Assembly as per requirement of the Constitution.
However, President Alvi rejected the summary and desired that all the reserved seats for women and minorities be allocated before summoning the National Assembly session.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has allocated women reserved seats of the National Assembly while it has yet to take a decision about reserved seats for the SIC – a new allied party of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in the Parliament.
Talking to Business Recorder, Ahsan Bhon, former president Pakistan Bar Council, said that the President is bound by advice of the prime minister under Article 48 of the Constitution to act. “When the prime Minister advises the president to summon the National Assembly session, then he [president] is bound to follow his advice without any excuse,” he said, adding that the session of the House cannot be delayed on reasons noted by the President.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024