Govt to hold joint sitting of parliament on Tuesday

ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to convene a joint sitting of the two houses of parliament on Tuesday (October 11), instead of October 20, for taking up bills related to electoral laws.

The laws were returned by President Arif Alvi, after its passage by the National Assembly and Senate separately, three months ago. The joint sitting is technically in session since early June this year and is being adjourned by the Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervez Ashraf almost every month by exercising the powers conferred upon him by proviso to Rule 4 of the parliament (joint sitting) rules, 1973.

President Arif Alvi returned the bill to the parliament without offering his consent when they were duly passed by the two houses separately. In case the bill is adopted by the joint sitting of parliament, they would become a part of the book without referring them to the president.

According to the agenda items, Federal Minister Murtaza Javed Abbasi will move the bill to further amend the Elections Act, 2017 (The Elections Amendment Bill, 2022), as passed by the National Assembly and Senate and returned by the president, be taken into consideration at once under clause (2) of Article 75 of the Constitution. (Amendments entered in a separate list to be moved). The minister will move to amend the Elections Act, 2017 (The Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2022.

Syed Amin-ul-Haque, Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication, would move a bill for the establishment of National Information Technology, as passed by the National Assembly and not passed by Senate within ninety days, be taken into consideration at once under clause (3) of Article 70 of the Constitution.

Federal Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain will move a bill for establishing the Pak University of Engineering and Technologies (The Pak University of Engineering and Emerging Technology University Bill, 2022), as passed by the National Assembly and not passed by Senate within ninety days, be taken into consideration at once under clause (3) of Article 70 of the Constitution.