Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Taking strict notice of ministers’ absence from standing committees’ meetings, the Senate’s Council of Chairmen on Tuesday decided to replace all ministers with parliamentary leaders for better working of the committees.

The council members met in the Parliament House under the chairmanship of Senator Raza Rabbani, where they criticised ministers and the bureaucracy for not implementing the recommendations of the standing committees.

Sources said that the council also decided to ban foreign observers from witnessing the proceedings of Senate standing committees after taking serious notice of US embassy officials’ presence in a meeting of Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology a few days ago.

The Senate chairman announced the ban, stating that if any foreign official intended to witness the proceedings, he would have to present a letter of the ambassador concerned to the Senate secretary for prior permission. The secretariat would then decide whether to allow the foreign official in the meeting, sources said.

The meeting also discussed various issues obstructing the smooth functioning of standing committees. On the issue of ousting minister as members, a Senate spokesman said that parliamentary leaders of political parties would be approached to replace ministers as members of the standing committees to ensure presence of the committee members for their effective function.

The chairmen of different standing committees had earlier pointed out the issue of absence of committee members in the meetings, which hampered the legislative business and the oversight functions of the committees.

The chairman told the members that the Senate Secretariat was streamlining the procedure for senators – especially the standing committee members – to avail leaves.

He also called for better coordination among different committees in holding their meetings for the convenience of members who were members of multiple committees.

The meeting also decided that in order to ensure productive and effective legislation, every committee chairman or his nominee would present to the council the details of the proceedings of the committee concerned on the issues taken up in its meetings.

To a question regarding delay in implementation on recommendations of the committees, the Senate chairman observed that either the committee chairmen should take up the matter directly with the departments concerned or write to the Senate Secretariat to expedite the process.

Speaking on the occasion, opposition leader Senator Aitzaz Ahsan complained that sometimes the bureaucracy did not take the functions of the standing committees seriously.

He also stressed the need for institutionalising the system saying that the decisions of the chairmen of the committees should be publicised.

Leader of the House Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq observed that some committees had not held enough number of meetings due to which many important sectors were not being given due attention.

He also said that he would take up the matter with the government that for the ministries and divisions being held by the prime minister, ministers might be nominated to participate in the standing committees.

The Senate chairman, responding to an observation by Senator Mohsin Aziz, said that as per rules, a junior officer should not be allowed to represent the department/ministry in the standing committees meetings.