Lack of quorum causes Senate adjournment, again

An opposition lawmaker pointed out that the House lacked quorum

By Mumtaz Alvi
October 26, 2024
A general inside view of the Senate building in Islamabad. — State media/File
A general inside view of the Senate building in Islamabad. — State media/File

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Friday again failed to transact business, barring a few supplementary questions during the question hour, as lack of quorum again forced the chair to adjourn the sitting till Monday.

An opposition lawmaker pointed out that the House lacked quorum, as Saleem Mandviwalla, who was presiding over the session, wanted to continue, after taking up question no 37, filed by Senator Jan Muhammad.

'Pointing out quorum during the question hour' but she is still calling the quorum. Counting may be made,' he remarked when the opposition senator insisted on counting to find out whether or not the House was in quorum while a treasury senator was on her feet to ‘intervene'.

The proceedings were suspended for five minutes, as the House was found incomplete in term of quorum. However, when the Senate reconvened, counting was made again and only 15 members were present, compelling the chair to adjourn the sitting till Monday at 3pm.

Similarly, the House would not transact a single item, listed on the orders of the day on the last sitting owing to the lack of quorum, when only six members were counted in the sitting on Tuesday last.

However, the chair made an announcement prior to adjourning the House Friday, regarding the visit of Russian parliamentarians' delegation led by the Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko from October 27 to October 29 and that she would address the special sitting of the Senate of Pakistan at 5pm Monday.

On the orders of the day for Friday was the laying before the Senate the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2024 (Ordinance No. VIII of 2024), as required by clause (2) of Article 89 of the Constitution of Pakistan.

Moreover, Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar was to move that the Bill further to amend the Legal Aid and Justice Authority Act, 2020 [The Legal Aid and Justice Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2024], as passed by the National Assembly be taken into consideration at once for passage.