ISLAMABAD, Jan 6: Three members of the Senate standing committee on defence have submitted a requisition notice to convene a meeting of the committee to discuss the issue of defence housing authorities (DHAs) set up in different parts of the country, sources told Dawn on Friday. The requisition notice signed by Farhatullah Khan Babar and Rukhsana Zuberi of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) and Sardar Mehtab Khan Abbasi of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was submitted to the Senate Secretariat on January 3.

Under Rule 163(4) of the Rules of Procedure and Business of Conduct in the Senate 1988 “on a requisition made by not less than three members of a committee, the chairman of the committee shall call a meeting within 14 days from the date of receipt of the requisition: provided that where the chairman of the committee fails to call such a meeting, the secretary shall call the meeting for a date within three weeks of receipt of the requisition.”

The notice says: “The setting up of the Defence Housing Authority, Islamabad, early this year, through an ordinance is the third DHA that has been set up in the country after Karachi and Lahore. It is important that issues relating to the setting up of DHAs are discussed for which the meeting of the defence committee be requisitioned.”

When contacted, Mr Babar confirmed that a meeting of the committee had been requisitioned. He said the DHA Islamabad ordinance 2005 was promulgated on February 22 just a few hours before the session of the National Assembly, raising concerns among several legislators who questioned the propriety of issuing ordinance just when the session of the lower house had been convened.

He said the reasons given for the promulgation of the ordinance were not at all convincing. The ordinance said, “Whereas it is expedient to establish Defence Housing Authority Islamabad” and “whereas the National Assembly is not in session”, adding that “the president is satisfied that circumstances exist which render it necessary to take immediate action.”

He said 10 senators belonging to different political parties had submitted an adjournment motion in February to discuss the issue. The motion, however, was not taken up on the floor of the Senate due to the absence of the defence minister.

He said a resolution was also moved in the Senate to disapprove the DHAI ordinance, but it also did not come up on the floor of the house.