ISLAMABAD – There was a rumpus in the Upper House of the Parliament on Friday when Chairman Senate, Farooq H Naek, declared the passage of the recommendations by the Senate to the National Assembly on the controversial General Sales Tax (GST) Bill.
Hullabaloo was not yet over when the Chairman announced to prorogue the House.
The Upper House passed the recommendations on the General Sales Tax (GST) Bill and Finance (Amendment) Bill (RGST) amid opposition from JUI-F and MQM, the ruling coalition partners, and PML-N and Jamaaat-e-Islami, the opposition parties.
Former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar of PML-N and Prof Khurshid Ahmed of JI wanted Chairman Senate Farooq H Naek to hold voting on the GST Bill, 2010, usually known as the Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST) Bill. But the Chair announced to prorogue the house while turning a deaf ear to the advice of the two senior Parliamentarians and what they called a bid to bulldoze the parliamentary norms of the Upper House. The Chairman read the prorogation order without taking into consideration that the Finance Minister had to deliver a concluding debate on the issue amid voices of Ishaq Dar that his party would walk out of the House if voting was not conducted.
Instead of holding the counting on the RGST, the Chairman only asked the members that those who were in favour of the recommendations might say ‘yes’ and those who were against the recommendations might say ‘no’ amid the slogans of “No RGST, No RGST” by the MQM and JUI-F.
PML-Q staged a token walkout of the House for not allowing them to move some fresh proposals forward on the RGST in the House before the Senate passed the recommendations on both the bills to be sent to the National Assembly for further proceedings.
The House was hit another constitutional controversy with the start of its proceedings on Friday when Wasim Sajjad, Leader of the Opposition, on the point of order requested the chair to relax the rules while using his discretionary powers for allowing him to move some fresh proposals on the RGST Bill in the House. The fresh proposals given by the Opposition Leader with consent of JUI-F and ANP, coalition partners of the Government, stated that the House recommended to the National Assembly that it would not pass the RGST.
Many legislators both from the treasury as well as opposition benches were of the view that the recommendations of the Senate Standing Committee were not final and the chair should accommodate fresh proposals while using his discretionary powers. Kalsoom Perveen accused some of the parties of adopting double standard, saying that they had supported the recommendations in the Senate Committee and now they were asking for fresh recommendations. Dr Babar Awan and Mian Raza Rabbani gave their constitutional opinions before the Chairman gave a ruling on the issue. Rabbani while quoting the prescribed rules 95, 96 and 97 said that as the recommendation that Wasim Sajjad wanted to move was negative in nature, so it could not be taken into consideration under the rules. Babar Awan said that according to Rule 119 &120, a private member who wished to move a resolution (or motion or fresh proposal) should give 7 daysÂ’ notice prior to this. Wasim Sajjad asked the Chairman to issue directives under Article-77, as the rules did not provide any regulations for this purpose in the Article 73.
The Chairman Senate assured the members that he would resolve the issue by giving his ruling before laying the report of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance containing proposals for making recommendations on the GST Bill and Finance (Amendment) Bill.
But, Senator Ahmed Ali first presented the report after many requests from the chair as he was hesitating to present it and then Farooq H Naek gave his ruling. Zafar Ali Shah also said that the Chairman was becoming partial as he was continuously using some words in favour of the treasury benches and the chair had to expunge these words on ZafarÂ’s request.
The Chairman Senate in his ruling said that the point raised by Wasim Sajjad violated the rules, as the time to give any proposals regarding the bill had lapsed. “The GST Bill was laid down on November 12, 2010 before the House for recommendations and the Chairman Senate at that time with the sense of the House decided that any proposal for making recommendations to NA may be given to the Senate Secretariat within two days”, he added. He said as the time had lapsed so no member would be allowed to submit fresh proposals at this stage.
Minister of Ports and Shipping, Babar Ghauri, wanted that the issue should be resolved in accordance with the sense of the House, as his party also wanted to submit fresh recommendations on agriculture tax. JUI-F was also in favour of submitting the fresh proposals.
Sabir Baloch while pointing towards Ghauri said that the Minister was a part of the Government and was speaking against it, he should first resign and then speak. Wasim Sajjad was of the view that the views of his party in the form of fresh proposals should be accommodated, as it had become a majority view because the ruling parties were also supporting it.