KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly passed 118 bills of the 174 bills that it received during the past three years, said Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani while presenting three-year performance of the assembly on Monday.

From May 29, 2013 to May 28, 2016, the assembly received 174 bills — 130 government bills and 44 private bills — and passed 118 bills including 12 private bills, said Mr Durrani sitting in the assembly auditorium. Seated with leader of the opposition Khwaja Izharul Hasan, deputy speaker Syeda Shehla Raza and others, Mr Durrani said the purpose of issuing the performance report about the three parliamentary years was to provide an opportunity to lawmaker to make up for deficiencies and improve their working.

Giving details of the 130 government bills, the speaker said that 106 of them were passed though three passed bills were returned with governor’s message, seven were referred to the committees concerned for consideration and report, six were withdrawn and eight were under consideration.

Of the 44 private bills, 12 were passed and six were withdrawn, while one was granted/ introduced, three were under process to obtain government consent, 12 were money bills and 10 others were referred to the committee concerned, he said.Responding to a question, Mr Durrani expressed his satisfaction over the role played by opposition benches. He said leader of the opposition in the parliamentary democratic set-up had an important role to highlight the lapses and lopsided policies of government. He said sometimes despite his keen desire to take up the adjournment motion for discussion, he could not help if the motion was not tabled according to the rules. He said if the members had taken care of the rules before bringing any motion in the house, it would not be easy to rule it out of order.

In reply to a question, leader of the opposition Khwaja Izharul Hasan said that Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani, being the custodian of the house, performed his duties in a transparent manner except some time when he came under pressure.

Sindh Assembly secretary G.M. Umar Farooq, special secretary Makhdoom Shafi and additional secretary Syed Mohammad Abbas were also present on the occasion.

According to the report, of the total 134 short questions which were received during the three years, 75 were allowed, 35 disallowed while 24 are on the floor of the house.

Similarly, it mentioned, 1,847 of the 5,348 formal questions were allowed, 1,645 disallowed, 879 laid on the floor of the house, 100 wee withdrawn/cancelled and 877 were under process.

The report said 488 call attention notices were received, 334 were taken up on the floor of the house while 154 lapsed.

Of the total 88 privilege motions, 13 were referred to the committees concerned, three reports were laid in the house, 11 were ruled out of order, 12 withdrawn and 49 lapsed.

The house received 269 adjournment motions and only four of them were admitted, while six were withdrawn, 36 were ruled out of order and 223 were disposed off/lapsed.

The report said that a total of 24 ordinances were received, 16 were laid in the house while eight lapsed.

Of the 303 days during the three parliamentary years, the assembly had actual sittings on 179 days, as 72 were holidays, while no session was held on 52 days, the report added.

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2016