Senate discusses delay in NFC award

ISLAMABAD: The Senate addressed its entire agenda on Tuesday including a debate on an Adjournment Motion regarding delay in the announcement of new National Finance Commission (NFC) Award, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

The House met for three hours and eight minutes. The sitting started at the scheduled time of 1100 hours. The Chairman presided over the entire sitting. The Deputy Chairman was also present. The Leader of the House was present for two hours and 45 minutes. The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for an hour and 12 minutes. The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.

As many as 14 lawmakers (13%) were present at the outset and 19 (17%) at the adjournment of the sitting. The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, PML-N, JUI-F, PPPP, JI and ANP attended the sitting. Two out of four minority lawmakers were present.

Chairman Standing Committee on Commerce and Textile Industry presented the report of the committee on a starred question regarding number of persons working in Textile Division and its attached departments.

The House adopted a report of the Standing Committee on Science and Technology on the expo-cum-conference held at Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) Lahore from February 11 to February 13, 2019.

The House granted 60-day extension to the Senate Standing Committees on Defense and Inter-Provincial Coordination and 30-day extension to the Senate Standing Committee on Communications for presentation of their reports on the matters referred to them.

The Leader of the House responded to a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding increase in the prices of imported Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

Another CAN regarding statement of Prime Minister of Pakistan during his recent visit to Tehran was not taken up despite the availability of the concerned minister in the House.

The ministers replied to 11 out of 27 Starred Questions while the House referred two of the questions to the relevant committees. Moreover, nine questions were not replied by the relevant departments, three were disposed of due to absence of the movers, one was deferred and the remaining were not taken up during the Question Hour.

As many as seven lawmakers participated in the debate on an Adjournment Motion regarding delay in announcement of new NFC award. The debate continued for an hour and 13 minutes and was concluded by the Minister for Foreign Affairs who spoke for 20 minutes.

As many as three lawmakers raised the Points of Order consuming 16 minutes of the proceedings.

The opposition walked out from the proceedings for nine minutes against absence of the government ministers to respond to the parliamentary business.

A PPPP lawmaker pointed out the quorum but it was found complete upon headcount after ringing of the bells for five minutes.

The House was adjourned to meet again on May 8, 2019 (Wednesday) at 1100 hours.