After being delayed for over two years under various pretexts, the law and parliamentary affairs committee finally approved the notice motion seeking amendments to the rules of procedures of the provincial assembly 1997 to empower the standing committees, Pakistan Today has learnt.
The notice of motion signed by 187 members was submitted by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)’s Punjab Assembly member Ayesha Javed in 2013. After being approved from the standing committee the amendments are likely to be tabled and passed at the house during or after the ongoing budget session.
The approved amendments are as follows:
PUBLIC HEARINGS:
The new Rule 161 (5) will enable the chairman of the standing committee to invite or summon to appear before the committee any member or any other person having a special interest in relation to any matter under its consideration. Furthermore, it may hold public hearings and invite speakers to hear expert opinion.
Additionally, a tentative calendar for the sittings of the house for the coming parliamentary year will be issued at the beginning of each parliamentary year.
ZERO HOURS
Moreover, this scribe has learnt through sources that the rule of zero hour is being introduced in the house whereby, the last half an hour of sitting shall be utilised to take up matters of urgent public importance; a member shall bring up an issue related to a government action that requires intervention of the house.
According to this rule, a member may raise a matter after giving a notice, in writing, to the secretary, one hour before the commencement of the sitting of the house be taken up in zero hour.
The member bringing up the issue will be allowed a maximum of two minutes to speak on the matter and is entitled to a reply by the concerned minister. Furthermore, if the minister is not present, the speaker may, if necessary, require the minister concerned to respond to the point raised by the member on a date to be fixed by the speaker.
RULE 138 (3) ALLOTMENT OF DAYS:
Under the aforementioned clause, the last line of the rule shall be changed to introduce the rule that at least 14 days shall be allotted by the speaker for the general discussion on the budget and not less than 21 days shall allowed for the general discussion of the budget.
The existing Rule 149 does not mention the time period when committees would be convened so the recommended amendment Rule 149(1) proposes that each committee shall consist of ten members to be elected by the assembly within 30 days after electing leader of the house.
RULE 158:
While the committee chair and especially the chairman public accounts committee have the authority to allow access of media and interested civil society representatives to the committee meetings, the committees can decide by majority vote to hold the entire sitting or some part of it in camera.
Additionally, the concerned departments will have to submit their quarterly reports to the standing committees for scrutiny.
WHY WERE THE AMENDMENTS PROPOSED?
MPA Ayesha Javed told Pakistan Today that her hard work for the empowerment of standing committees and the parliament have finally paid off. “I am hopeful that the amendment would be passed by the house soon,” said Javed.
“I have submitted the motion to give suo motu powers to the standing committee which would help increase the accountability of bureaucrats,” she added.
Ayesha remarked that democracy in Pakistan works on the assumption that the elected representatives are answerable and accountable to the people but lack of power of the committees negates this by making them ineffective.
“It is the need of the hour to give the committees power to act on their own accord because under the present rules, committees were unable to take notice of issues at their own prerogative. They could only address issues raised on points of order, privilege motions, call attention notices and during question hour,” said Javed.
REASONS FOR THE DELAY:
A senior official of the law department, talking to Pakistan Today on the condition of anonymity, said there was opposition from the bureaucracy because officers were not keen on briefing lawmakers on topics they (parliamentarians) were not authorities on.
“Even though the motion remained with the secretary law for months yet, it was neither placed on the agenda of the assembly session nor discussed at the meetings of law and parliamentary affairs committee for almost a year,” he added.
PTI lawmaker Dr Nausheen Hamid lauded the purposed suggestions. “The amendments would empower the assembly and provide lawmakers ample time to review the budget.”
Dr Hamid also appreciated the proposal to create a Zero Hour. “The present set-up had led to concentration of power in a few hands which prevented lawmakers from contributing to the assembly’s business,” she said.
She added that the establishment of a yearly calendar will help in facilitating the parliamentary work by making sure that members were present in the assembly when required.
