Senate receives 554 public petitions

ISLAMABAD: Since April 2015, the Senate of Pakistan has received as many as 554 public petitions till July 12, while 20 of these were selected for discussions in the House and 169 referred to the concerned House standing committees for consideration.
The Public Petition Table (PPT) was established on April 04 this year on the order of the Senate Chairman, Mian Raza Rabbani, apparently with a view to enhancing public trust and confidence in the parliament, as their elected representative body.
The Senate Secretariat says that with the passage of time, more and more petitions from different segments of society are being received, showing their faith in resolution of their genuine issues through the good offices of the legislature. This is a unique experience in Pakistan’s parliamentary history.
Apart from 189 petitions as detailed above, 365 petitions were not admitted being related to the affairs of the provinces, individual grievances, vague, unspecified, anonymous, pseudonymous or being sub-judice, and matters not concerning public at large.
As a sign of acknowledgement and appreciation, the Senate Secretariat has received scores of letters. As many as 18 petitions, more or less pertaining to three issues, have already been discussed and directions also issued. Some committees have also been formed to thrash out solutions and recommendations.
A petition received by the Senate Secretariat generates a petition number automatically, through which the petitioner can trace the status of his filed petition through the tracking system.
First step after filing a petition is determination of its admissibility. If it relates to the affairs of the provinces, or pertains to individual grievances, or is vague, unspecified or fake, anonymous or sub judice, such a petitions is obviously not entertained.
Second step is placement of a petition before the Senate chairman for his orders. Next step is action by the secretariat on the directions of the Senate chairman whether the petition is to be discussed in the House or is to be referred to the relevant standing House committee for deliberations and submission of the report thereon to the Public Petition Table (PPT).
On receipt of a report from the House standing committee, the next step is again putting it before the Senate chairman and after his perusal/ approval, the petitioner/ public at large is apprised of the fate of the petition, if needed.
A senior official at the Senate Secretariat told The News that this process is carried out every Monday and Thursday and a report on the affairs of the petition table is presented on the first day of every session, which is read out by the secretary Senate. The secretaries of the standing committees are required to submit progress reports on the filed petitions to the PPT after every fortnight.