ISLAMABAD, November 25, 2019: The Punjab Assembly passed four government bills and adopted two supplementary resolutions on Monday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during the sixth sitting of the 16th session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for three hours and 30 minutes; however, the proceedings remained suspended for 36 minutes due to prayer break.
- The sitting started at 1613 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
- The Deputy Speaker also attended the sitting.
- The Leader of the House did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition was present for 20 minutes.
- As many as 50 MPAs (13%) were present at the outset and 80 (22%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- All parliamentary leaders of political parties having representation in the House were absent.
- As many as six out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.
Output
- Moved by the Minister for Law, the House passed two bills including the Punjab Public Private Partnership Bill 2019 and the University of Mianwali Bill 2019 after having discussion on them for 35 minutes.
- Two other bills including the Punjab Animal Health Bill 2019 and the Fort Munroe Development Authority (Amendment) Bill 2019 were also passed by the House amid opposition’s walkout for not considering their amendments on these legislative proposals.
- Tabled by a PML lawmaker, the House adopted a resolution to denounce desecration of Holy Quran in Norway.
- The House also adopted a resolution to rename Dera Ghazi Khan Institute of Cardiology Hospital as Fateh Muhammad Khan Buzdar Institute of Cardiology. The resolution was tabled by a PTI lawmaker.
- The Minister for Law presented eight statutory reports in the House.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House took six out of 31 starred questions while the lawmakers also asked 14 supplementary questions.
- The Minister for Law responded to two Call Attention Notices (CANs) related to law and order.
- The Concerned Ministers responded to two Adjournment Motions related to delay of a health project and renovation of those buildings declared unsafe by Metropolitan Corporation Lahore.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers raised six Points of Order consuming nine minutes of the proceedings.
- The opposition lawmakers walked out of the proceedings at 1932 hours against not incorporating their amendments in two legislative proposals. They did not return to the House till adjournment of the sitting at 1943 hours.
- A PML-N lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1933 hours but the Chair ignored it.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on November 26, 2019 (Tuesday) at 1100 hours.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available on Punjab Assembly’s website.
- Information on Members’ attendance is available on Punjab Assembly’s website.
The daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Punjab Assembly proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are regretted