ISLAMABAD: Senate chairman Sadiq Sanjrani on Friday ordered the filing of a written complaint with Prime Minister Imran Khan against the latter`s cabinet colleagues for their continuous absence from proceedings.

The direction came after criticism and boycott by opposition members, who were of the view that ministers do not take the proceedings of the upper house of parliament seriously and it is mostly the leader of the house, Shibli Faraz, who provides answers to their questions.During the discussion, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Senator Javed Abbasi said it had become a routine for ministers not to attend the proceedings of the Senate.

`We request you to give a ruling over the issue because the proceedings of the Senate are being affected,` he said, addressing the chair.

Mr Sanjrani criticised the absence of ministers and said that it had become a routine that the house waited for them. However, he said, State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan had informed him, via a phone call, that he was on the way. `Not only show displeasure, on behalf of me, with the ministers but also inform the prime minister, in writing, that his ministers don`t come to the Senate sessions on time,` he said, talking to the staff of the Senate secretariat.

Mr Abbasi said that the opposi-tion would observe a boycott and left the house along with other senators. Another PML-N senator, Ghous Mohammad Khan Niazi, pointed out the lack of quorum before leaving the house.

Quorum means the minimum number of members required to be present at a sitting of the house.

The quorum required during the course of a sitting of the Senate is one-fourth of the total membership of the Senate. On Friday, because house was not in quorum, on the directions of the chair bells were rung for five minutes to summon members. Minister of State for Revenue Hammad Azhar reached the place and after a while Mr Abbasi and other opposition members also returned. The chair started proceedings without going for counting to check whether the required number of members were present in the house. After a while State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan also reached the forum. Later, Hammad Azhar said that Senator Sherry Rehman had moved a call-attention notice against him but had been absent for last two days.

`Millions of rupees are spent on a single session of the Senate but those persons don`t come to the house,` he said.

However, the Senate chairman told him (Mr Azhar) that the said senator was ill and had volunteered this information. Several times, opposition and standing committees of the parliament house have criticised the absence of ministers. During the current month, the Senate Standing Committee on Information not only displayed annoyance over the absence of Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry but also rejected the national advertisement policy draft that was placed before it. A few months ago, the Senate Standing Committee on Water Resources cancelled its meeting in protest over the absence of Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda.