Rabbani moves bill for massive empowerment of Senate

ISLAMABAD: Former Senate chairman Senator Mian Raza Rabbani Monday moved a bill in the Senate, seeking massive empowerment of the Upper House of the Parliament, for which a series of resolutions were already adopted with consensus in the last few years.

The proposed law seeks extensive powers for the Senate through amendments in a number of articles of the Constitution. Sparing a few amendments, the government did not oppose the move and allowed to be referred to the House standing committee concerned for deliberations and report. The bill envisages effectively enforcement of participatory federalism, ensuring provincial autonomy and providing a meaningful participation to the provinces and other territories in the Federation.

The bill seeks addition of a proviso to Article 57 of the Constitution, which reads, “A Chief Minister shall have the right to speak and take part in the proceedings of the Senate of Pakistan when so invited by the Chairman, but shall not by virtue of this Article be entitled to vote”.

Moreover, it proposes to change the qualification for an electoral contestant from an enrolled voter in a constituency to a ‘registered voter and resident for five years. Rabbani said this would curb the trend of transferring vote from one province to the other ahead of polls. Moreover, two amendments have been proposed in Article 72 of the Constitution: one to provide for chairing of a joint session by either Chairman Senate or the Speaker National Assembly, possibly by rotation and equality of Senate votes in a joint session. For which, it proposes addition of a proviso to Article 72 (4) that reads, “Provided that one vote of a Member of Senate shall be proportionate to the total number of seats in the National Assembly divided by the total number of seats in the Senate”.

An amendment has also been sought for a meaningful role of the Senate in money bills, requiring the National Assembly to explain the National Assembly reasons for not incorporating any recommendations of the Senate. An amendment has also been suggested in Article 89 of the Constitution which deals with promulgation, extension and disapproval of an ordinance. An amendment has been proposed in Article 126 of the Constitution to have Senate’s role in approving a province’s budget, in the absence of a provincial assembly. Another important amendment in Article 126 seeks to have the power for appointment of an arbitrator in case of a dispute between the centre and a province for the Senate instead of the chief justice. Proposed addition in Article 160 of the Constitution reads “If the next Award of National Finance Commission could not be announced within five years the government shall take permission from the Senate to extend the previous Award for another year: Provided that in case of extension the Senate may increase the Award to the provinces by one percent: Provided further that in case of every extension, the Senate may further increase the Award for the provinces by one percent annually.”