Senate still short of mandatory sittings

The upper house in over 10 months of its parliamentary year has yet to complete its business days fixed for the year.

The parliamentary year of the Senate will end by March 11, 2023, parliamentary sources said.

“It is mandatory for the house to remain in session for 110 days to complete its parliamentary year,” sources said.

It is mandatory, under Article 61 read with Article 54(2) of the Constitution, for the Senate to hold at least three sessions and to meet for not less than 110 days in each parliamentary year.

In addition, more than 120 days should not intervene between the last sitting of the Senate in one session and the date appointed for its first sitting in the next session.

Parliamentary sources said that the house has completed only 84 business days in the ongoing parliamentary year so far. “The house requires to remain in session for 30 more days in remaining 41 days of the current year,” parliamentary sources said.

The Senate is the upper legislative chamber of the bicameral legislature of Pakistan, and together with the National Assembly makes up parliament.

The president, from time to time, summons either house or both the houses of parliament under Article 54(1) of the Constitution.

However, the Senate chairman can also, under Article 54(3), summon the Senate on a requisition of one-fourth of the total membership of the house.

Each session of the Senate starts from the date of commencement of its first sitting and concludes when the house is prorogued by the president or the chairman, as the case may be.