Money Bill

Why have the lawmakers across the aisle in Senate have forged unity to demand voting powers of the House in the money bill as according to the Constitution, the money bill can only originate from the Lower House of the Parliament? What is more disturbing is the fact that Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani also joined the senators and ruled that the resolutions passed by Senate reflect the aspirations of Senate as the house of federation.

Are our honourable Senators not aware of the fact that a lower house (National Assembly) is directly elected by population while the upper house (Senate) is most often not directly elected by population. In India, for example, introduction of Money Bill takes place only in Lok Sabha (lower house). After the bill is approved in the Lok Sabha it is sent to the Rajya Sabha for consideration. In other words, the introduction of Money Bill is done exclusively in the Lok Sabha. Both India and Pakistan have Westminster parliamentary system with its historic connection to the Crown and convention.

Karachi Naqi Zafar