An unprecedented move came in Pakistan's legislative history when the Senate briefly met on Tuesday to discuss the no-confidence motion against Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani. The session was prorogued to meet again on August 1 to vote on the motion. The House met hardly for 15 minutes to discuss one-point agenda, removal of the chairman Senate.
Sanjrani, who was presiding over the Senate session, did not allow the opposition to present no-confidence motion, citing the related rules that bar moving no-confidence motion in the beginning of a Senate session. The chairman Senate announced to initiate debate on the motion moved by 49 senators of joint opposition, except Jamaat-e-Islami, under the leadership of Senator Raja Zafar-ul-Haq. The joint opposition has a total strength of 64 senators in the Senate excluding the Jamaat-e-Islami that has two senators who do not support the no-confidence motion.
Speaking on floor of the House, Zafar-ul-Haq said the opposition does not want to debate on no-confidence motion and, instead, wants that the motion be voted. Addressing the chair, he said, "Mr chairman! we want to present the no-confidence motion and voting on the motion today but you have summoned the Senate session under Rule 218 (of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate 2012) to debate the matter instead of voting. We don't want any debate. We demand that the session be prorogued till voting," he said.
Leader of the House in Senate Shibli Faraz also wanted to share his views but the opposition was unwilling to listen as the opposition benches started uttering "No, no, no," immediately after Shibli took the floor. "I only want to thank the leader of the opposition. We respect their (opposition's) stance," Shibli said in his brief speech.
The chairman Senate said he has issued a ruling on procedure regarding the removal from office of the chairman or the deputy chairman. In the written ruling, Sanjrani said in the light of the Rule 12 (1) and Rule 12 (2) of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate 2012, the notice seeking permission for no-confidence motion against chairman or deputy chairman Senate can only be moved during an ongoing session of the Senate and the Senate session cannot be called specifically to move a resolution seeking permission for no-confidence motion. The chairman Senate's ruling cited the aforementioned rules to justify the decision not to grant permission to present no-confidence motion on Tuesday.
It merits mentioning here that the Senate was not in session when opposition had submitted no-confidence motion against chairman Senate on July 9. "Despite that the notice seeking permission to present resolution regarding removal of chairman Senate does not qualify the criteria laid down in Rule 12, I acted upon my conscience (to summon Senate session) because I wanted to foil all the efforts aimed at weakening the Senate of Pakistan and making the office of chairman Senate controversial," Sanjrani said in his ruling.
"I am not only the representative of my province but also responsible for the protection of the rights of all the federating units of Pakistan. The people come and go but institutions, constitution, traditions and rules stay. Whether I stay on this chair or not, as a member of this house I would keep playing my role to uphold the sanctity of Parliament and Constitution regardless of the consequences. I order Senate Secretariat to strictly follow Rule 12, standing orders and rulings of the chair in future," the chairman Senate's ruling added.
The Rule 12 (1) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate 2012 reads, "(1) Not less than one-fourth of the total membership of the House may give to the Secretary notice in writing of a motion for leave to move a resolution-for the removal from office of the Chairman or the Deputy Chairman and the Secretary shall forthwith circulate the notice to the members."
Rule 12 (2) reads, "After the notice has been received, the Senate shall not be adjourned to a date later than seven clear days excluding closed holidays."
On Saturday, the chairman Senate summoned the Upper House's session on July 23 on a requisition moved by the opposition parties. On Sunday, President Arif Alvi summoned the Senate session on August 1, which led to confusion as to why the President had to summon the Senate session when the chairman Senate had already summoned it on July 23.
According to a well-placed source in Senate Secretariat, the existing rules related to Senate's legislative business allow only the chairman Senate to summon a requisitioned session but the rules also do not allow the chairman Senate to preside over the Senate session in which no-confidence motion is considered against him and therefore voting on no-confidence motion against chairman Senate cannot take place in a requisitioned session.
The source in Senate Secretariat said that the chairman Senate had to summon the requisitioned session on Tuesday because he was constitutionally bound to summon the session within 14 days of the submission of the said requisition. Given that the requisition was moved by the joint opposition on July 9, July 23 was the late day to summon the requisitioned session, which was finally summoned by the chairman Senate on the said date.
On Feb 10, 2016, Raza Rabbani, the then chairman Senate, had issued a detailed ruling on "Procedure regarding treatment of business during a requisitioned session." According to the ruling, "The authority to summon requisitioned session lies entirely with the Custodian of the House (chairman Senate) with no role of any kind to any of the executive authority or the President. The authority to prorogue such a session is also the sole discretion of the Custodian of the House." On the other hand, under the rules, the chairman/deputy chairman cannot preside over the session in which no-confidence motion is moved against him.