ISLAMABAD, July 13: A special committee of Senate on Tuesday approved an amendment, moved by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Raza Hayat Hiraj, to the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate, 1988.

The committee meeting was attended, besides its chairman Wasim Sajjad and the minister of state for parliamentary affairs, by senators Prof Ghafoor Ahmad, Chaudhry Anwar Bhinder and Mian Raza Rabbani, says a press release.

The committee approved the insertion of the new rule which provided that "at the commencement of the first session of each year, the government shall, in consultation with the Senate chairman, provide a calendar of sessions for the parliamentary year and that the chairman shall cause the provisional calendar to be circulated among the members forthwith".

It has also been provided in the new rule that "the president, on the advice of the prime minister, shall summon the Senate to meet, as far as practicable, on the date mentioned in the calendar: Provided that the president may, if so advised by the prime minister, summon the Senate to meet on a date different from that mentioned in the calendar, and intimation thereof shall be given to the chairman, who shall inform the members". The recommendations of the committee will now be placed before the upper house.