Chapter V - SITTING OF THE ASSEMBLY AND ARRANGEMENT OF BUSINESS
CHAPTER V
SITTING OF THE ASSEMBLY AND ARRANGEMENT OF BUSINESS.
20. Recitation from Holy Quran. Every sitting of the Assembly shall commence with a Recitation from Holy Quran followed by its Urdu translation.
21. Sitting of the Assembly. Unless the Speaker otherwise direct-
(a) the Assembly shall meet, while in session, on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday;
Provided that if any of these days happen to be holiday under the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, or has been declared as a holiday by the Government of Balochistan, there shall be no meeting on that day;
(b) the Assembly shall meet from 8:30 A.M .to 1:30 P.M. during summer and from 10:00 A.M. to 2:30 P.M. during winter;
(c) if the business set down in the Orders of the Day for the day is completed earlier or if it not completed at 1:30 P.M. during summer and at 2:30 P.M during winter, the Speaker shall adjourn the Assembly without question put, and the proceedings on any business then under consideration shall be interrupted:
Provided that if the time of interruption the closure is moved or proceedings under the closure are in progress, the proceedings under the closure, and any further motion as is specified in the rule as to closure, shall be completed before the Assembly is adjourned.
EXPLANATION: For the purpose of this rule ‘summer’ means the period beginning on and from the first day of May and ending on the last day of September and ‘winter’ means the period beginning on and from the first day of October and ending on the last day of April.
22. Adjournment of Sittings. Subject to other provisions of these rules the Speaker may:-
(a) adjourn a sitting of the Assembly; and
(b) if he so thinks fit, call a sitting of the Assembly, at a time and date different from that to which it was earlier adjourned.
23. Class of Business. Business of the Assembly shall be classified as-
(i) Government business, or
(ii) Private Members’ business.
24. Allotment of time for transaction of business. On Thursday no other business except the Private Members’ business shall be transacted, and on all other days no business other than Government business shall be transacted except with consent of the Leader of the House or, in his absence, the Law Minister:
Provided that if any Thursday is a holiday, private Members’ business shall have precedence on the next working day:
Provided further that if any Thursday is appointed for the presentation of the Budget, or is allotted for any stage of the Budget a day in lieu of such Thursday shall be set apart by the Speaker for private Members’ business.
25. Arrangement of Business. (1) The Secretary shall arrange Government business in such order as the Leader of the house or in his absence the Law Minister and in the absence of both of them, any other Minister on Government behalf may intimate.
(2) On days when Private Members’ business is to be transacted, such business shall be taken up in the following order: -
(a) Bills to be introduced;
(b) Resolutions on matters of general public interest;
(c) Bills which have been introduced:
Provided that the Speaker may direct that Bills and resolutions may be taken up on separate days and on the day when Bills are to be taken up not more than first half of the day shall be allowed for Bills to be introduced and the rest of the day for Bills, if any, which have advanced beyond the stage of introduction.
26. Relative Precedence of private Members’ Bills. (1)The relative precedence of private Members Bills to be introduced shall be determined by ballot.
(2) The ballot shall be held in accordance with the procedure set out in Schedule 1, on such day, not being less than five days before the day with reference to which the ballot is held, subject to the authority of the Speaker to make minor variation in the procedure from time to time.
(3) Bills introduced shall be arranged in such order as to give priority to Bills most advanced in the following order:-
(i) Bills in respect of which the next stage is that the Bill be passed;
(ii) Bills in respect of which a motion has been carried that the Bill be taken into consideration;
(iii) Bills in respect of which the report of the Select Committee has been presented;
(iv) Bills in respect of which the report of the Standing Committee has been presented;
(v) Bills in respect of which the next stage is the presentation of the report of the Select Committee/ Standing Committee;
(vi) Bills which have been circulated for eliciting opinion;
(vii) Other Bills:
Provided that the relative precedence of Bills falling within the same category shall be determined according to the priority of their introduction in the Assembly.
27. Precedence of resolutions. (1) The relative precedence of notices of resolutions on matters of general public interest given by private Members under Rule 103 which have been admitted, shall be determined by ballot to be held in accordance with the procedure set out in schedule 1, on such day not being less than five days before the day with reference to which the ballot is held subject to the authority of the Speaker to make minor variations in the procedure from time to time.
(2) A resolution which does not find place in the ballot shall not lapse but shall be included in the subsequent ballot in the same session of the Assembly.
28. Orders of the Day. (1) Orders of the Day for each day shall be prepared by the Secretary and copy thereof shall be made available for use of every Member and any other person entitled under the Constitution to take part in the proceedings of the Assembly.
(2) Save as otherwise provided in these rules:-
(a) the business for the day shall be transacted in the order in which it appears in the Orders of the Day;
(b) no business not included in the Orders of the Day shall be transacted at any sitting except business of a formal or ceremonial nature which may be permitted by the Speaker;
(c) no business requiring notice shall be set down for a day earlier than the day following the day on which the period of necessary notice in respect of such business expires.
(3) Unless the Speaker otherwise directs, not more than five resolutions (excluding any resolution commenced on and outstanding from, a previous day) shall be set down in the Orders of the Day for any day allotted for the disposal of private Members’ resolutions.
29. Business outstanding at the end of day. Subject to these rules all business fixed for any day not disposed of before the termination of the sitting shall stand over until the next day available for such class of business or until such other day in the session so available as the Member-in–charge of the business may desire but private Members business so standing over shall have no priority on such day unless it has been commenced, in which case it shall only have priority over private Members business fixed for such day except the Bills to be introduced.