Chairman Senate Farooq H Naek on Thursday highlighted the achievements of the Upper House of the Parliament during the past parliamentary year. Addressing a press conference here at the Parliament House, the Chairman Senate said the Senate had held seven sessions during the past year and met for 92 days including four joint sittings.
"During the year which ended on March 12, the Senate passed 16 bills out of which 14 were received from the National Assembly while two of those were Private Member's Bills. Out of these, nine bills were passed and made Acts of the Parliament while five Private Member's Bills were also introduced," he added.
Farooq Naek said the Senate also discussed four adjournment motions including killing of three political leaders in Turbat, Balochistan, and the security and human rights conditions in Balochistan while the issuance of new set of special screening guidelines by the US for Pakistani passengers at US airports also was debated.
He said another 111 resolutions were received by the upper house, out of which 90 were admitted for discussion. Moreover, 287 motions under rule 194 were received, out of which 260 were admitted and seven were discussed in the House," he added.
The chairman Senate said the Senate of Pakistan, adhering to established parliamentary traditions and norms, assisted the government in its struggle to strengthen democracy. Another touchstone to gauge the supremacy of the parliament is that for the first time in the history of Pakistan, details of the defence budget were presented in the parliament for threadbare debate on the subject, he said.
"In yet another 'first,' the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly was made Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, which is unprecedented to this very day. Calling in-camera sessions of the Parliament on sensitive security issues, flight against terror, and provincial matters such as issues related to the provinces is perhaps the most significant accomplishment of this government," he added.
The Chairman said that despite the fact that the Senate seats had increased from 45 to 100 members, the increase in related facilities was not made to meet the growing load of work. "From the day of my election as Chairman, I was quite clear about the need of providing office space and related staff, especially to the Chairmen of more than 41 Standing and Functional Committees of the Senate.
These Committees, to me, are the Mini Parliaments where fine-tuning of legislative work is done and each and every detail of intricate legislative business is finalised for further consideration of the House. Hence, it was decided to establish an Admin block in the Parliament House to accommodate officers/officials of the Senate," he added.
He hoped that the project will be completed within next 20 months. He said both the National Assembly and Senate Secretariats were facing great hardships to provide proper office accommodation to the Chairmen of Standing Committees due to non-availability of space in the Parliament House.
"It was planned to construct new offices in Sector G-5/2 on the Southern side of the existing Parliament Lodges. The building would include offices of the Chairmen Standing Committees. This include Parliament Secretariat offices, Committee Rooms, Library/Resource Centre, Cafeteria, Kitchen and other service rooms, etc. The project would be completed within 30 months, after full filling the formalities," he added.
Farooq Naek also shared a plan for a modern self-service cafeteria in the Parliament House to provide good quality food items on subsidised rates to the parliamentarians, journalists covering Parliament and officials of the Secretariat of the Senate and National Assembly and the cafeteria would be functional at the end of next month.
The Senate Secretariat has decided to replace the sound system installed in the Senate Hall with the latest digital one and very soon DCS 6000 System will be installed in the Senate, he added.
"Similarly, the Library of the Senate was made fully automated on a user-friendly Library Management Database in December, 2009. Now, all printed information in the Library can be searched through Online Public Access Catalogue available on the official website of the Senate Secretariat," he added.
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