PILDAT releases Update for 37th Session of National Assembly

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  1. In 6 sittings held during 37th session, a whopping 72.19% agenda items were left over
  2. National Assembly met for 7 hours and 20 minutes in 37th Session with an average time of 1 hour and 13 minutes per sitting; Longest sitting was 1 hour and 57 minutes and shortest sitting lasted only 36 minutes
  3. All 6 sittings started late on an average of 47 minutes per sitting
  4. 4 out of 6 sittings of National Assembly were adjourned due to lack of quorum though on average 188 or 54.97% MNAs marked attendance in session
  5. Prime Minister did not attend any sitting; Leader of the Opposition attended only 1 sitting
  6. No bill was introduced or passed by National Assembly while 3 Ordinances were laid and 2 Ordinances were extended

Working Hours

The 15th National Assembly met for 7 hours and 20 minutes in 37th Session with an average time of 1 hour and 13 minutes per sitting. All 6 sittings started late on an average of 47 minutes per sitting.

The 37th session began on Thursday, October 14 and was called not only towards the end of the working week, but the House was called to meet at 3 pm, towards the end of normal working day. The first sitting, however, could only begin with a delay of 1 hour and 24 minutes and lasted only for 1 hour and 40 minutes before it was adjourned. The next sitting was held on Friday, October 15 at 11 am and started with a delay of 21 minutes. The sitting, however, was the shortest of the session and lasted only for 36 minutes before adjournment. No sitting was held over the Saturday and Sunday weekend. The next sitting held on Monday, October 18 was called at 4 pm, again towards the end of normal working day. The sitting, however, started with a delay of 40 minutes and lasted for only 42 minutes. No sitting was held on October 19 on account of Eid Milad-un-Nabi. The next sitting of the session was held on Wednesday, October 20 which was again called towards the end of normal working day at 4 pm and started with a delay of 1 hour and 28 minutes and lasted 1 hour and 57 minutes as the longest sitting of the session. On Thursday, October 21, the house was again called to meet at 4pm and the sitting started with a delay of 29 minutes and lasted for 1 hour and 9 minutes only. On Friday, October 22, the house was called to convene at 11 am but could only start after a delay of 21 minutes and was prorogued after a sitting of 1 hour and 16 minutes.

Agenda Items Left Over

In all 6 sittings held during 37th session, a whopping 78.08% agenda items on average were left over. In the sitting held on October 14, 13 agenda items were left over out of 14. In the sitting held on October 15, 11 agenda items were left over out of 13 when quorum was pointed out and the house was adjourned for not being in order. On October 18, only two agenda items were taken up and 43 agenda items were left over out of 45. On October 20, 87 agenda items were left over out of 91. On October 21, 7 agenda items were left over out of 46. In the sitting held on October 22, 11 agenda items were left over out of 13.

Quorum Pointed Out

In 4 out of 6 sittings of National Assembly during 37th session, quorum was pointed out and 4 sittings were adjourned though on average 54.97 MNAs marked attendance in the session. The house was adjourned due to lack of quorum on sittings held on October 15 where 191 MNAs were recorded as present, on October 18 where 146 MNAs were recorded as present, on October 21 where 210 MNAs were recorded as present and on October 22 where 195 MNAs were recorded as present in the sitting.

Attendance

Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Imran Khan, MNA, did not attend any of the 6 sittings of the National Assembly held during the 37th session, whereas Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, MNA, attended only 1 sitting out of 6, held on Monday, October 18 . Only half or 54.97% MNAs attended the 37th session.

Most Vocal MNAs

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, MNA (NA-132 Lahore-X, Punjab, PML-N) was the most vocal MNA during the 37th session with a talk time recorded of 26 minutes, even though he attended only one sitting of the session. Ms. Shazia Marri, MNA (NA-216 Sanghar-II, Sindh, PPPP) spoke for 16 minutes during the session, followed by Ms. Aliya Hamza Malik, MNA (Reserved Seat for Women-Punjab, PTI) who spoke for 12.13 minutes, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, MNA (NA-73 Sialkot-II, Punjab, PML-N) who spoke for 10.20 minutes, Syed Naveed Qamar, MNA (NA-228 Tando Muhammad Khan, Sindh, PPPP), who spoke for 9.25 minutes.

Legislation

During the 37th session of the 15th National Assembly, no bill was introduced or passed. The only legislative activity during the session included laying of three (3) ordinances and extending the period of 2 ordinances. In addition, fifteen (15) laws passed by the National Assembly but not passed by the Senate within the stipulated period of 90 days were referred to the joint sitting of the Parliament by motions adopted by the National Assembly. All of this activity took place only on one day of the sitting held on Thursday, October 21, a day before the session was prorogued. The three (3) Ordinances laid in the house included the Public-Private Partnership Authority (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021 (No. XVIII of 2021), the Tax Laws (Third Amendment) Ordinance, 2021 (XXII of 2021) and the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021 (XIX of 2021). The two (2) Ordinances extended for a further period of 120 days included Pakistan Civil Aviation Ordinance, 2021, and the Pakistan Airports Authority Ordinance, 2021. Fifteen (15) laws referred to the joint sitting of the Parliament by motions adopted by the National Assembly included the following:

  1. The Emigration (Amendment) Bill, 2021
  2. The Muslim Family Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 (Amendment in Section 4)
  3. The Muslim Family Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 (Amendment in Section 7)
  4. The National College of Arts Institute Bill, 2021
  5. The Privatization Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2021
  6. The Pakistan Academy of Letters (Amendment) Bill, 2021
  7. The Corporate Restructuring Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2021
  8. The Financial Institutions Secured Transactions) (Amendment) Bill, 2021
  9. The Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2021
  10. The SBP Banking Services Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2021
  11. The Loans for Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Purposes (Amendment) Bill, 2021
  12. The Maritime Security Agency (Amendment) Bill, 2021
  13. The Port Qasim Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2021
  14. The Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2021
  15. The Gwadar Port Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2021

Key issues raised during the session included the National Assembly discussion on Uswa-e-Hasna of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), paying tribute to Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, non-allocation of additional three percent of NFC Award to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for former FATA, government’s failure to maintain law and order in various constituencies, non-implementation of commitments for tax exemption and other incentives made on the floor of the house, a suggestion to set-up a ministry in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to look into the affairs of FATA, human rights violations in Balochistan, need for a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency in the country and criticism on the statement made by Governor State Bank regarding the devaluation of Pakistani Rupee against Dollar, etc.