Joint sitting to pass govt choice bills

ISLAMABAD: To push its choice legislation for parliamentary approval, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is exercising the rare option of convening a joint session of the National Assembly and Senate to pass some bills that could not evoke support from the Upper House.

Topping its agenda is a bill that converts the ailing Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) into a limited company with the objective of involving a private strategic investor to improve its financial health.

The government is keen to approve the bill because it doesn’t want to wait further, keeping the PIA in dire financial straits in which it is facing a massive deficit and has no prospects to get better in its present state.

The PML-N was left with no option but to resort to the joint session of parliament after the bill was spurned by the Senate with a resounding disapproval vote. This is perhaps the first time that the joint parliamentary sitting will be held for this purpose. Such sessions had always been held mostly for the annual presidential addresses or occasionally for the speeches of the dignitaries of the friendly countries.

When the Upper House turned down the PIA bill last week, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani had asked the government to bring before the joint session at least eight other laws, awaiting such approval. However, it is the prerogative of the PML-N to present in the joint sitting any number of bills.

Reckoning the numerical scenario in the National Assembly and Senate, the PML-N and its allies are in a comfortable position in the joint session to push any legislation. The deficiency they face in the Upper House not only be met by their impressive strength in the National Assembly, but they also exceed what they actually need - minimum support of 224 MPs - if all the 342 members of the National Assembly and 104 senators attend the joint sitting.

Even less than this number, 224, may also suffice as not all the MPs generally show up in such sessions. Additionally, a simple majority of the MPs “present and voting” in the joint sitting will be required to pass a bill.

Under clause 4 of article 70, if a bill transmitted to a House is rejected or is not passed within ninety days of its laying or a bill sent again to a House with amendments is not cleared by it with such changes, it, at the request of the House in which it originated, will be considered in a joint sitting, and if passed by the votes of the majority of the members “present and voting” in the joint session it will be presented to the president for assent.

The PIA bill had been passed by the National Assembly amid the opposition’s protest. Its rejection by the opposition dominated Senate was a foregone conclusion because the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had been firmly opposed to it.

The article also says that a bill may originate in either House, and will, if it is passed where it originated, be transmitted to the other chamber; and, if it is passed without amendment by the other House also, it will be presented to the president for assent. If a bill transmitted to a House by the other is passed with amendments it will be sent back to the House in which it originated and if that House passes it with those amendments it will be presented to the president for assent.

Before holding the joint session, it is expected that the government would engage in talks with the opposition parties in the Senate to unanimously approve the law. But it is unlikely to get any helping hand from them.

The government feels reassured and is poised to move forward its privatization plan after it overcame the difficult situation created by the striking employees of the national flag carrier. When the government did not accept any demand of the PIA Joint Action Commission during the protest, it decided not to budge from its stand after the agitation came to an abrupt end. The government is no longer under any pressure from the PIA workers.

The opposition parties in the Senate stressed that the PIA’s financial health should be improved through different measures. One proposal was that the airline should be given a bailout package while another was that the workers should be offered a golden handshake to make the carrier shed its extra load.