Rules for no-trust resolution: What Asad Qaiser can and cannot do

ISLAMABAD: Unpredictability and confusion prevail about the likely actions of Speaker Asad Qaiser as the National Assembly, requisitioned by the opposition parties to take up the vote of no-confidence resolution against Prime Minister Imran Khan, meets on Friday.

The sponsors of the motion fear an unforeseen ruling from the speaker to their disadvantage, meant to delay the final vote on the resolution for a few days.

They fear that the speaker may adjourn the first day of the session after offering ‘dua’ for a departed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) member of the National Assembly to meet again on Monday after a gap of two days – Saturday and Sunday -- arguing that a session can’t be convened on these days as they are weekly federal holidays.

The rules do not provide for the postponement of the day’s sitting after offering ‘dua’ for deceased members. However, for many years it has been a parliamentary tradition to put off the day’s session after this to assemble the next day.

Opposition members are keenly waiting to see what the written “orders of the day” (or agenda of the sitting), prepared by the speaker for the first day, Friday, will be. Rule 37(3) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly says the notice for the no-trust motion, which was submitted to the National Assembly secretariat on March 8, must [shall] be entered in the name of the sponsoring members concerned in the day’s agenda for the first working day [meaning Friday] after the expiry of one clear day of the receipt of notice. The notice was received by the National Assembly office17 days ago.

It will also be keenly watched how much time of the day’s sitting the ‘questions’ to be disposed of on the first day will take. Sub-rule 4 says the leave to move the resolution will be asked for after ‘questions’, if any, and before other business entered in the orders of the day is taken up.

It is likely that the speaker will put several questions on the agenda for taking them up because such proceedings will consume a lot of time. However, this process may be cut short by the majority of the House by getting the agenda suspended through a voice vote, with the speaker’s permission. Consequently, the opposition parties, which claim to have mustered the support of the majority against the government, will be in a position to easily do this.

Whether the opposition parties or the government has a majority will be clear in a couple of days as the government’s allied parties take a decision and make it public. It is widely believed that the allies are abandoning the ruling coalition and joining hands with the opposition.

It is evident from Sub-rule 4 that after the disposal of questions, no other business of the day, brief or expansive, will be taken up by the National Assembly on the first day unless the request for “leave” has been dealt with. The other business will come before the House later, and if it was not dealt with within the time of the sitting of the day, specified by the speaker, he may take the “moving” of the no-confidence motion to the next day, which will add to the opposition’s consternation.

A question has also been discussed in certain circles that the speaker may interpret the voting on the resolution “not before three days and not later than seven days” as constituting ‘working days’, excluding the two weekly holidays, which will further delay the final vote.

It is being argued by government leaders quoting the rules and law that the speaker’s ruling would be final and can’t be called into question in any court of law, and no parliamentary proceedings can be disputed at any judicial forum.

However, it is noteworthy that Asad Qaiser appeared somewhat defensive in his notification, summoning the requisitioned session with a delay of three days. He justified the delay by relying on a constitutional article that says if a certain act is not done within the time fixed in the Constitution, it would not be considered invalid or ineffective for this reason. He rationalized his action by saying that the Senate Hall was not available for the requisitioned session as it was being renovated and the Capital Development Authority (CDA) chairman expressed his inability to provide any other place in the federal capital to hold the session.

Regardless of any decision or action of the speaker, the constitutional article and rules are clear about the timeframe and the what is to be done for the final vote.

Article 54(3) says on a requisition signed by not less than one-fourth of the total membership of the National Assembly, the speaker shall summon the Lower House of Parliament to meet, at such time and place as he thinks fit, within 14 days of the receipt of the requisition; and when the speaker has summoned it only he may prorogue it. Rule 37 says the notice of such a resolution will be given in writing by not less than 20pc of the total membership of the National Assembly and its secretary will, as soon as may be, circulate it to the members. However, the speaker took a long time to do so just five days ago while it had been filed by the opposition parties with the National Assembly secretariat on March 8.

The rule further says such a notice will be entered in the name of the members concerned in the orders of the day for the first working day after the expiry of one clear day of the receipt of the notice. This means that there is no option for the speaker but to enter the notice in the agenda of Friday.

According to the rule, leave to move the resolution will be asked for after questions, if any, and before other business entered in the orders of the day is taken up. When the resolution is moved, the speaker may, after considering the state of business, allot a day or days for the discussion on the motion. However, the resolution will not be moved while the assembly is considering demands for grants submitted to fit in the annual budget statement.

The assembly will not be prorogued until the motion is disposed of or if leave is granted that the resolution has been voted upon. This deprives the speaker of the power to prorogue the requisitioned session after the first day’s proceedings, but he can’t do so without voting on the no-trust motion.