The government is unlikely to face any difficulty in passage of Supplementary Finance (Amendment) Bill-2019 in the national assembly as the bill does not require debate and sending it to the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Finance, sources in the NA secretariat said.
Senior officials of the National Assembly Secretariat told Business Recorder that unlike Senate Standing Committee on Finance, there is no legal requirement for sending the supplementary finance bill to the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Finance once it is tabled in the House for discussion and recommendations, if any.
However, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) leadership has instructed the party members as well as members of the allied parties in the National Assembly to make sure of their presence in the House in its upcoming session to maintain quorum and for the smooth passage of the finance bill.
The treasury benches require a simple majority of the members present in the House for passage of Finance Bill. The government is expected to get the finance bill approved from parliament despite an expected protest from opposition parties, sources added.
During previous sessions, maintaining of quorum remained a challenge for the government which created embarrassment for the Prime Minister and the chief whip of the PTI whose responsibility is to ensure attendance of the members in every session.
National Assembly has received 55 recommendations from the Senate on the supplementary finance bill, prominent amongst which is (i) reduction in tax on per kilogram tobacco, (ii) non-filers should be allowed to purchase vehicles only up to 800CC against the proposed exemption of up to 1300CC, (iii) imposition of regulatory duty on export of recycled materials, and (iv) necessary steps should be taken to convert non-filers into filers within next financial year.
Some other recommendations are about initiation of different development projects in Gilgit-Baltistan including construction of roads and installation of low capacity hydel projects in the region.
The House also proposed an amendment to Members of Parliament (Salaries and Allowances) Act, 1974 saying that "a member shall,... in addition to the vouchers... be entitled to the cash value of 25 business class open return air tickets from the airport nearest to his constituency to Islamabad on quarterly basis."