Public Petition

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Public Petition to the Senate is an opportunity for you to have direct access to the Senate and participate in the democratic parliamentary process. You can raise issues of public importance relating to the Federal Government for consideration of the Parliament and contribute your ideas, opinions and comments on matters that are already being considered by the Senate of Pakistan or Senate Standing Committees. Public Petition is not a complaint of personal nature.

The Public Petition process allows ordinary citizens of the country to have direct access to the Senate and seek a redressal of their collective grievances. It puts issues on the Senate’s agenda which otherwise may not be considered and facilitates in addressing issues of public importance relating to the Federal Government. In other words, it makes Senate accessible and gives a feeling of ownership of Parliament to the common man.

Rule 277 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate, 2012 provides for ‘Procedure for submission of Public Petitions’

How to submit a Petition?

The petitioner initiates the Public Petition processby using the online Public PetitionDropboxon the official website of Senate of Pakistan, or sends it to the Public Petitions Table, Senate Secretariat, by post. Petitions should contain the following information:-

Personal details of the petitioner:
  • Complete name and CNIC number of the petitioner
  • Postal address
  • E-mail
  • Mobile and landline phone number
Text of the Petition:

The text must clearly and concisely state the grievance and the relief sought by the petitioner

Additional Information:

Provide additional information relevant to the Petitionseparately as annex and the reasons why the petitioner considers the action requested to be necessary.

Reading Guidelines for Submitting a Petition:

Indicate that the petitioner has read the guidelines for submitting a Petition.

Disclaimer:

That the matter is not pending before any court or other authority performing judicial or quasi-judicial functions. If the matter is subjudice, however, provide the relevant case number and court name i.e. Supreme Court, High Court of (Province), Session Court (name) etc.

Admissibility of a Public Petition

The Public Petitions Table will assess all petitions against the following criteria of admissibility, namely:-

  1. It shall be addressed to the Chairman, Senate of Pakistan.
  2. It shall contain clear proposal, suggestion related to:
    • business before the House,
    • business before a Senate Committee, and/or
    • issue of public importance.(It should be a matter which pertains to, is related or is the concern of the Federal Governmentor anybody or person acting through or under it).
  3. It shall, in no way, relate to a matter which is the concern of a provincial or local government.
  4. It shall not be a personal matter or complaint against individual(s).
  5. It shall not contain offensive, intemperate, inflammatory, sarcastic or provocative language.
  6. It shall not contain false or defamatory statements.
  7. It shall not relate to a matter which falls within the cognizance of a court of law or tribunal, and it shall not directly relate to a matter pending before any court or other authority performing judicial or a quasi-judicial functions.
  8. It shall not be on a matter which, has already been examined or is a repetition of a petition considered or under consideration of either the House or a Committee. If so, the petitioner will be informed about action/disposal of the already pending matter.

Acknowledgement of Petition:

As soon as, the Petition is submitted online, an automated acknowledgement email will be sent to the petitioner containing the Petition ID number, as per template at Appendix-B. The email will also inform the petitioner that he/she can check the status of the Petition by logging back to the Senate website and using the combination of their CNIC number and Petition ID number. In case a Petition is received by mail, Public Petitions Table (PPT) will scan the Petition, and annexure, if any, assign a Petition ID and repeat the same acknowledgement mechanism if an email address is provided with the Petition. If no email address is provided, petitioner will be informed by phone or by post, as the case may be.

Processing of the Petitions:

Streamlining
ThePublic Petitions Table shall retrieve the Public Petitions from the website and after verifying petitioner’s credentials from NADRA database and checking the initial filters mentioned in the section, ‘How to submit a Petition,’shall print the same. Public Petitions Table will examine the petition under the criteria of admissibility and then classify into the following four heads for further submission to the Chairman Senate:-

  • Petitions relating to the business pending before the House, or proposed to be included in the House business.
  • Petitions relating to the business pending before a Senate Standing Committee or to be referred to a Committee.
  • Petitions relating to the matters of general public importance relating to the Federal Government.
  • Inadmissible
Chairman’s Approval
Petitions filtered and classified as above, will then be put up – twicea week i.e. on Monday and Thursday of every week – forthe approval/disapproval and orders of the Chairman Senate in one consolidated summary note.
Updated Status of Petitions:
Public Petitions Tablewill regularly update the status of petitions online as per Appendix-C.As soon as a status update is made, the petitioner will get an automated email as per Appendix-D. In case a Petition is found inadmissible, the petitioner will be informed through an automated email as per template at Appendix-E. In case a Petition is discussed in the House with the approval of Chairman Senate, the petitioner will be informed through an email as per template at Appendix-Falong with copy of/reference to House Debate that contains discussion on the Petition.
Follow-up of Petitions Referred to Committees
Once a Petition is referred to a Committee, the Secretary Committee shall:
  1. immediately bring it to the notice of the Chairperson, Committee,
  2. send it to the Ministry concerned for comments within a period of seven working days,
  3. after the receipt of ministerial response, either place it on the agenda of next Committee meeting with approval of the Chairperson or, if there is no need for the matter to be further processed, send it back to Public Petitions Table,
  4. if required, follow-up the matter with concerned ministry/division.
  5. submit a fortnightly report as per Appendix-G, detailing actions taken on all petitions referred to the subject Committee that were not disposed of until submission of last fortnightly report, and
  6. forward request for extension of disposal period beyond the stipulated 30 days in cases where such an extension is needed.
Public Petitions Table shall:
  1. on receipt of requests for extension of time, put up the case for Chairman’s orders and subsequently inform the Secretary Committee of the orders made.
  2. submit a fortnightly summary report to the Chairman containing details of petitions pending with Senate Committees, as per Appendix-H.
Petitions Taken up in the House
Public Petitions Table shall, after obtaining orders of the Chairman, forward the petitions relating to the House Business or which requires taking cognizance by the House to the Legislation Branch, which shall set such petitions in the Orders of the Day for their taking up in the House. The Chairman, after briefly referring to the contents of the petition on its turn in the Orders of the Day, may open the Floor for discussion. On conclusion of the discussion, the Chairman may ask the concerned Minister to respond. If the House is satisfied by the statement made by the Minister concerned, the Petition will stand disposed of.If, however, the House is not satisfied by the statement made by the Minister, the Chairman may refer the Petition to a particular Ministry/Division, upon which Legislation Branch shall follow up the implementation status after the expiry of stipulated time fixed by the House.After receipt of response from the Ministry/Division, Legislation Branch shall place the same before the House and also convey the same to the Public Petitions Table who shall convey the same to the petitioner.
Record of Petitions
Record of all petitions received and actions taken thereon will be available in the online database maintained by the Computer Programmer. Detailed information about any Petition as well as summary information about all petitions will be updated and available for access online.Public Petitions Table will maintain all files and logs of the petitions in hard form.
Master Table of Petitions
Public Petitions Table shall prepare and maintain a daily master table of petitions detailing numbers of total petitions received to that day and breakup of number of petitions by each status category.

Placement of Report before the House regarding Public Petitions

A report will be placed before the House in every session, containing details of petitions received after placement of such report in the previous session, actions taken thereon, breakup of petitions by status, petitions pending with Senate Committees, and other information as may be considered appropriate from time to time.

Placement of Report before the House regarding Public Petitions

  1. Inadmissible Petition under the guidelines will stand rejected.
  2. The Chairman Senate may reject any Petition
  3. The petitioner may withdraw the Petition at anytime before its admissibility.

In an attempt to cater more effectively to the needs of the people of Pakistan and to extend a hand in solving your problems, Senate of Pakistan has recently launched a system of inviting public petitions.