Senate asks government to amend 11 articles of Constitution

The Senate unanimously passed a resolution on Monday recommending the government to amend 11 articles of the Constitution to empower the Upper House, especially in terms of voting in joint sittings of the Parliament. The resolution backed by parliamentary leaders of all political parties, was moved by Leader of the House in Senate Raja Zafarul Haq and it recommended amending articles 57, 62, 72, 73, 86, 126, 159, 160 and 162.
The resolution was presented to the House in line with a decision made at Business Advisory Committee meeting and signed by Senators Tahir Hussain Mashhadi of MQM, Mushahidullah Khan, PML-N, Azam Swati, PTI, Ilyas Bilour, ANP, Taj Haider, PPPP, Usman Kakar, PkMAP, Mir Kabir, NP, and JI's Sirajul Haq, - the parliamentary leaders of all political parties in Senate.
The Senate recommended that article 57 shall be amended to provide that the chief ministers of all the four provinces to have the right to address the Senate as and when invited, while in clause (4) of Article 72, a provision shall be added, namely, "Provided that one vote of a member of Senate shall be proportionate to the total number of seats in the National Assembly divided by the total number of seats in the Senate."
In Article 73, in clause (1A) a proviso shall be inserted, namely, 'provided that simultaneously the National Assembly shall inform the Senate about the status of recommendations of Senate on the bill, which shall include details as to the recommendations incorporated in the bill and recommendations not incorporated, along with the reasons for non-incorporation.'
Another important amendment proposed by the Senate in article 160 states: "If the next award of National Finance Commission (NFC) could not be announced within five years, the government shall take permission from the Senate to extend the previous award for another year, provided that in case of extension the Senate may increase the award to the provinces by one percent; provided further that in case of every extension, the Senate may further increase the award for the provinces by one percent annually."
In Article 162, the Senate recommend to amend it as under, "the existing article 166 shall be substituted with the following, namely: 'The executive authority of the Federation extends to borrowing upon the security of the federal consolidated fund within such limits, if any, as may from time to time be fixed by Act of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament), and to the giving of guarantees within such limits, if any, as may be so fixed; and every borrowing agreement entered by the federal government shall be ratified by the both Houses of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)."
The Senate in its resolution also resolved to continue its struggle for enhancement of the role and powers of the Senate to make Pakistan a true federation as envisaged by the Constitution, besides protection and representation of interests and rights of the federating units and the people of Pakistan, marginalised segments of society, and ethnic minorities.
Besides, it resolved to transmitting fruits of democracy to the people of Pakistan; undertaking legislation that translates policies for the welfare and betterment of the federation, the federating units and its citizenry; ensuring that devolution of subjects and powers takes place and remains within the constitutional parameters; and safeguarding the interest of the country in the wake of emerging regional and global realities.
After the resolution was passed, Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani said that Senate would continue concerted efforts for enhancing its powers and having more vibrant role in parliamentary democratic system in the country.
"The House was unanimous on the resolution as it was less empowered in various areas. The resolution is meant for enhancing powers of the House to further strengthen democracy and making Pakistan a federation in real terms," he added. He said, "It would be our common agenda during the next parliamentary year of Senate to pursue implementation of this resolution as amendment in article 72 is the most important amendment. This amendment refers to vote count of National Assembly and Senate on different issues during the joint sitting of parliament and the amendment provides that 'one vote of a member of Senate shall be proportionate to the total number of seats in the National Assembly divided by the total number of seats in the Senate."
He said it was general practice when two chambers were jointly in session, the votes proportion was arranged in a manner that none of the House was deprived in terms of number. In this regard, he also quoted the example of Senate elections procedure where the votes of provincial assembly having minimum number of votes (Balochistan) was guaranteed by the Constitution to have equal numbers of the Senators when compared to provincial assemblies having more members. Rabbani expressed hope that the resolution would be seriously considered by the government to enhance role of the Senate in various affairs in the parliamentary democracy.