Islamabad: The 249th session of Senate witnessed a marked improvement in the parliamentary output in terms of the transaction of business, a strict follow-up of schedule, regular attendance of key members and participation of lawmakers in the debate on Finance Bill during its 12 sittings. The Budget session started on June 2, 2016, and concluded on June 17, 2016, with an average of 15 percent of the Senators present at the start and 22 percent at the end of each sitting. On average, a maximum of 65 percent of the members (66), along with three minority Senators, attended the session. Each sitting started two minutes behind the schedule and lasted as long as three hours and 26 minutes, on average. The Prime Minister did not attend any of the sittings. The Chairman, on the other hand, attended all 12 sittings and presided over 88 percent of the session’s time. The Deputy Chairman attended as many as five sittings and chaired six percent of the proceedings, while one percent of the sessions was presided over by members of the Panel of Presiding Officers and 5 percent was consumed in breaks. The Leader of the House was present in as many as 11 sittings and attended 73 percent of the session’s time, while the Opposition Leader remained present in 10 sittings and attended 44 percent of the session’s time. The Finance minister attended four sittings, consuming 18 percent of the session’s time. The parliamentary leaders of PML, BNP-M and PML-N attended all sittings, followed by PPPP and PkMAP, whose leaders attended 11 each, JI, MQM and PML-F, whose leaders attended nine each); ANP’s leaders attended eight sessions; leaders of NP were present in six sessions; PTI leaders in five sessions; and JUI-F leaders in three each. The Parliamentary leader of BNP-A, however, did not attend any of the sittings. The budgetary debate lasted as long as 16 hours and 48 minutes, consuming 41 percent of the session’s time. As many as 64 lawmakers shared their views on the Finance Bill, including 19 from PPPP, followed by 17 from PML-N; five independent lawmakers, four each from ANP, MQM and PTI; three each from PkMAP and PML; and two from NP. One lawmaker each from BNP-M, JI and PML-F also took part in the budget debate. In addition to the introduction and debate on the Finance Bill, the House passed six government bills, which included the constitution (Twenty-second Amendment) Bill, 2016; the Foreign Exchange Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2016; the Corporate Restructuring Companies Bill, 2016; the Financial Institutions (Secured Transactions) Bill, 2016; the Deposit Protection Corporation Bill, 2016 and the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Bill, 2016. The Constitution (Twenty-second Amendment) Bill, 2016, suggested changing the eligibility criteria for the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and as many as four members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). The civil servants and technocrats have now been eligible for appointment as the CEC and ECP members, in addition to serving or retired judges of the superior courts. The bill has also set an age limit of 68 years for the CEC and 65 years for the ECP members. The Foreign Exchange Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2016, aims to further amend the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 while the Corporate Restructuring Companies Bill, 2016 has the purpose to establish and regulate corporate restructuring companies. The Financial Institutions (Secured Transactions) Bill, 2016 aims at creating security interests over moveable property and establishing a secured transaction registry. While, the Deposit Protection Corporation Bill, 2016 has the purpose of establishing Deposit Protection Corporation, as a subsidiary of the State Bank of Pakistan and for the management and control thereof. The House passed the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Bill, 2016, with a majority vote, and aimed to establish institutions and enunciation of mechanisms and procedures so as to provide for the effective conservation and efficient use of energy. The House also witnessed the introduction of the Credit Bureaus (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2016. Both the bills were referred to relevant committees for further deliberation. The Finance Bill, 2016 and the National Command Authority (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016 were laid before the House while the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was withdrawn. The House also adopted a joint resolution to express sorrow and grief over the sad demise of the boxing legend, Muhammad Ali. The House took up 15 Calling Attention Notices (CANs), mostly related to the ranking of Pakistan Higher Education system; sales of sub-standard products at Utility Stores; increase in prices of medicines; unscheduled load-shedding; FATA reforms; pension issues in EOBI; implementation of electoral reforms; construction of an LNG Terminal in obstruction of Bundel Island; reorganization and fresh raising of civil armed forces; lack of facilities in schools at Islamabad; delay in population census; decrease in export of textile; reduction in supply of drinking water by the Military Engineering Service (MES) Department Rawalpindi; import of whey powder and meat affecting local farmers affiliated with livestock and bad effect on the efficacy of drugs due to non-maintenance of temperature. Two other CANs were deferred which were related to the blockage of almost 400,000 web links by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and the job security to teachers and employees of Colony Boards and T&T Colony, Haripur. The House witnessed the presentation of 17 reports of the standing committees while extension in the time period was granted for submission of 11 other reports under Rule 194 (1). A report of the Special Committee on the privatization of Heavy Electrical Complex (HEC) was laid while four other reports were adopted by the House during the entire session. The Chairman disallowed presentation of two reports of Standing Committee on Law and Justice, terming them in contravention of the rules. He was of the view that Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Law & Justice cannot attend the Committee’s meetings because he does not have the portfolio of Minister and it is in violation of Article 57 of Constitution as well as 198 (3),165 (1) of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business. The Senate debated an Adjournment Motion (AM) on the drone strike that reportedly killed Mulla Akhtar Mansoor, the former chief of Taliban, in Balochistan on May 22, 2016. Three other AMs on the Indian test of intercept missile, re-verification of CNICs and agreement signed between India, Iran and Afghanistan for the development of Iranian Chabahar Port were disposed of after discussion. Six AMs were not admitted for being in contravention of the rules, one was dropped due to the absence of the mover while one AM was withdrawn by the mover. As many as 17 out of 27 Starred Questions were taken up by the House during the first sitting, while Senators raised 40 Supplementary Questions. Of these, 13 were related to the CADD, followed by Aviation Division (5), Establishment Division (4), Climate Change Division (3) and Information Technology (2). One un-starred question was related to each CADA and Cabinet Secretariat. Question Hour was not held in 11 other sittings due to the debate on Finance Bill, 2016.