ISLAMABAD, Feb 6 (APP): Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) on Monday issued an analysis on the 45th session of the National Assembly which began on October 7 and prorogued on October 24 with 11 sittings in 18 days.
During the session,17 bills including seven government bills and three private member’s bills were passed while seven of the private member’s bills were transmitted from the Senate, said a news release.
The National Assembly met for 22 hours and 20 minutes with an average time of 2 hours and 2 minutes per sitting.
The longest sitting of the session was held on October 13 when the House was adjourned after meeting for four hours and 19 minutes.
On average 31.53 percent of agenda items were left over during the 45th session with only 68.47% of its agenda items disposed of in 11 sittings.
Lack of quorum was pointed out only in two or 18.18% out of 11 sittings during the session. The same two sittings were adjourned due to a lack of quorum.
On average, 103 MNAs marked their attendance during the 45th session and the reason behind the low attendance was the absence of PTI MNAs while ECP also de-notified 11 MNAs of PTI on July 29, 2022.
During the 45th session, the total time consumed for discussion on policy issues spanned over only 1 hour and 32 minutes while the Assembly consumed 14 hours and 27 minutes on the discussion of non-policy issues.
According to PILDAT, a policy issue involves any amendment in a bill or a recommendation on devising a policy. “Any discussion on an issue that does not go beyond mere criticism or highlighting a concern does not fall into policy issue and is treated as discussion or time spent on non-policy issues,” the think tank noted.
