Sanctioned strength of this Ministry is 196 including 35 officers.
- • Members of Parliament (Salaries and Allowances) Act, 1974.
- • The Chairman and Speaker (Salaries, Allowances and Privileges) Act, 1975.
- • The Deputy Chairman and Deputy Speaker (Salaries, Allowances and Privileges) Act, 1975.
- • The Elections Act, 2017.
- • The Chief Election Commissioner (Salary, Allowances, and Privileges) Act, 1975.
- • The Members of Election Commission (Salary, Allowances, Perks and Privileges) Act, 2016.
- • The Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007.
- • The Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate, 2012.
Parliament consists of the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the two Houses i.e. the National Assembly and the Senate.
A Bill is a proposal for legislation moved by any member in respective House or by a Minister/Minister of State for a fresh law as well as modifying/amending existing laws. Hence, it is a draft statute and become a law/Act if receives approval of both the Houses of Parliament and assent of the President.
However, a money Bill, broadly outlined under Article 73(2), shall originate in the National Assembly and also simultaneously transmitted to Senate for its recommendations within 14 days.
Bills are classified into Government Bill moved by a Minister and Private Members’ Bills moved by any of the members in respective House, after submitting required notices under the Rules of Procedures. Government Bills, however, requires prior approval of the Federal Cabinet before submitting notices/introduction in either House.
Every Bill has to undergo three stages in each House viz; introduction of the bill, referral to the Standing Committees and lastly consideration/passage of the bill.
A Bill passed by originating House is transmitted to the other House of the Parliament which has to consider it within 90 days after its introduction in other House, under the provision of the Constitution. A bill passed by both the Houses is to be assented by the President into Act. In case other House doesn’t pass a Bill in stipulated period, rejects it or passes with amendment, the originating House may like to refer a bill to the Joint Sitting through a resolution adopted by the majority votes.
Parliament transacts a great deal of its business through Committees which are considered as extension of the Parliament. There are different types of Committees of both the Houses as well as joint parliamentary Committees viz. Standing Committees, Public Accounts Committee, Committee on Government Assurances, Committee on Rules of Procedures and Privileges and Joint Parliamentary Committee for appointment of Judges and Members/Chief Election Commissioner etc.
There is a Standing Committee of each House for every Ministry. The Standing Committee of Ministry concerned besides considering bills/legislative proposals relating to Ministry concerned, may also exercise following functions:
- • To examine the expenditure, administration, delegated legislation, public petitions and policies of the Ministry concerned.
- • Every Committee has powers vested in a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 to take evidence or call for papers, record or documents.
- • To scrutinize and make recommendations if necessary in PSDP allocation of the Ministry for the next financial year before the budget.
Matters pertaining to following Standing Committees of Senate and National Assembly, are dealt with by this Ministry:
- 1. Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs
- 2. Committee on Rules of Procedure & Privileges
- 3. Committee on Government Assurances
The assurances, promises, commitments, and undertakings of the Government given by its Ministers from time to time on floor of the respective House are called government assurances. The Assurance Committee of each House is exclusively constituted to take note and to regularly report on the extent to which such assurances and promises have been implemented, and whether the implementation has taken place in a timely and effective manner. Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs actively follows up all these assurances with the respective Ministries/Divisions for implementation/reports.
The wing has been assigned the task of processing public complaints and grievances addressed to the Prime Minister of Pakistan from across the country and by overseas Pakistanis for its resolution by the concerned authorities. These complaints are processed and vigorously followed with the relevant Ministries/Organizations/Entities working under Federal and Provincial Government and reports shared with the complainants.
The complainant is supposed to follow the below mandatory instructions for processing his/her complaint:
- 1. Complaint is required to be addressed to the Prime Minister of Pakistan and duly signed by the complainant.
- 2. Valid CNIC and Mobile Numbers are mentioned in the complaint.
- 3. The complaints broadly pertain to the following areas:
- Financial assistance
- Matters related to police, property, land and other miscellaneous issues.
- Infrastructure and other municipal services.
- Utility services such as electricity, gas and water etc.
The complaints received in the wing are properly examined and categorized as actionable and non-actionable in accordance with criteria devised by the office of the Prime Minister. The complaints, after thorough examination, are forwarded to the concerned ministries / divisions / departments including federal, provincial and local government departments for redressal through Pakistan Citizen’s Portal (PCP). The concerned authorities are required to dispose of the cases within the stipulated period (41 days) and forward the requisite replies to this wing through PCP. The wing used to keep in touch and pursue the cases with the complainants to know their satisfaction level. The complainant may also see the status of the complaint through the provided code number.
Steps involved in processing of a complaint:
- 1. After preliminary examination, actionable complaints are forwarded to the relevant Authority(s).
- 2. The timeline to resolve the grievance are 20 to 41 days.
- 3. After completion of timeline of 20 days, the complaint is treated as Escalated and after 40 days, it is treated as Super Escalated.
- 4. The relevant authorities are required to process/dispose of the case within stipulated time period by forwarding the replies to this Ministry through PCP.
- 5. In case of dis-satisfaction, feedback is taken from the complainant in order to resolve the grievance.
- 6. In case the complainant is still unsatisfied, he is asked to submit written rebuttal of the reply.
- 7. In case, the reply from the relevant authority (s) is still unsatisfactory, the complaint is re-opened or forwarded as a fresh complaint for redressal on its merit.