Minister for Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh came under fire in the Senate session on Thursday as members from the treasury and opposition benches slammed the government for violation of the constitution through the tabling of the tax amnesty bill in the Senate, four days after it was laid in the National Assembly.
Senate Chairman Syed Nayyar Hussain Bokhari was forced to defer the Tax Laws (Amendment) Bill 2012 for today (Friday) after seeking sense of the House.
Surprisingly for the treasury benches, it was none other than their own buddy and a seasoned parliamentarian, Mian Raza Rabbani, who raised the matter on a point of order even before the bill was tabled.
Following objection by a treasury member, pin-drop silence was observed in the House and the treasury and opposition members looked onto Rabbani and the Senate chairman, having no clue of the situation.
Rabbani objected to the laying of the bill by the finance minister only in the National Assembly, stating this was a violation of Article 73 of the constitution as the bill was not tabled simultaneously in both Houses and the finance minister had to table the bill in both Houses of parliament simultaneously on December 17.
Reading out the proviso of the Article 73, Rabbani said the money bill had to be laid in both Houses of the parliament simultaneously and the Senate would have to send its recommendations to the National Assembly within 14 days.
He said the bill had been laid before the National Assembly on December 17, while the same was being laid in Senate on December 20, which was a grave violation of article 73. He said the Senate had been deprived of debating and formulating its recommendations over the bill for four days.
Leader of the Opposition Senator Ishaq Dar also agreed to the notion of Rabbani, saying the bill was a serious violation of the constitution. He also said the government could not declare any bill a money bill without a certificate by the National Assembly speaker.
Dar said why had the bill not been laid in the House when the Senate was also in session on December 17.
He said under the law, even if the Senate was not in session, the government would have to summon the Senate session so as the money bill could be laid simultaneously in both Houses.
Dar said the government had given the FBR powers of lawmaking, which was prerogative of parliament. He said introduction of tax amnesty scheme was prerogative of parliament, but the same had been decided by the FBR.
He said the finance minister should clarify before the Senate whether it was a money bill or not. Minister of State for Finance Saleem H Mandviwala said the bill be deferred for Friday and the finance minister be allowed to answer questions by the members.
The chairman then deferred the bill, directing that any cabinet minister might appear on Friday and respond to the objections raised by the members.
During the question hour earlier, State Minister for Communications Dost Mohammad Mazari was caught unprepared by members.
The minister asked Zahid Khan to repeat a question four times and even then could not apprehend the question, forcing Khan to drop his query all together.
Khan taunted Mazari by calling him “unable minister”.
Earlier, the Senate chairman expressed his anger over the absence of ministers during the question hour and directed Leader of the House Jahangir Badr to arrange a meeting with the prime minister and brief him on the absence of the ministers.
Rabbani asked the chairman to exercise his powers and pass fixers against the absent ministers. He said after the passage of the 18th Constitutional Amendment, the ministers were accountable to the House.