Ministry opposes handing over Senate polls powers to secretariat

The law ministry on Wednesday raised objections to the amendments to Rule 9 in connection with the election of the Senate chairperson and their deputy.

It opposed PPP stalwart Senator Raza Rabbani’s suggestion that the authority to conduct the polls be taken away from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and be handed over to the Senate secretariat.

During a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Procedure and Privileges held under the chairmanship of Senator Muhammad Tahir Bizenjo, Rabbani contended that the chairperson and deputy chairperson should be elected by the members of the upper house according to the provisions of the Fourth Schedule.

He added that this was the internal work of the Senate and could not be run by any external body.

However, the law ministry objected to this suggestion saying that the Senate secretariat was not an independent body.

The committee postponed the matter for further consideration.

The Senate panel also discussed the proposed amendment to Rule 57 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business. In the amendment, the number of supplementary questions was proposed to be reduced from three to one.

Senator Bahramand Khan Tangi argued that the chairperson would not allow any supplementary question to be accepted.

The ministry did not support the amendment as it might infringe the right of members of parliament to freedom of expression enshrined in Article 66(1) of the Constitution.
The other members of the committee also opposed the amendment.

Senator Rabbani said that by supporting this amendment, he would be contradicting what he had previously raised as the Senate chairman and therefore he opposed it.

As a result, Senator Tangi withdrew this amendment.

A privilege motion was moved by Senator Manzoor Ahmed Kakar.

In the motion, he informed the panel about his reservations and complaints against the acting governor of the State Bank.

He was of the view that parliamentarians called government officials about public issues but whenever he and some other members of the Senate and National Assembly called the acting State Bank governor, he neither answered, nor did he call them – an act which was tantamount to obstruction.

The acting State Bank governor unconditionally apologised for the  "negligence" on his part.

He added that the State Bank did not intend to neglect the services of lawmakers.

He explained that in the recent past, he could not answer the calls made to his cell phone because of financial commitments.

Senator Kakar accepted the apology and withdrew the privilege motion.