ISLAMABAD, January 14, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Punjab passed the Right to Public Services Bill 2018 on Monday while deferring the proposed legislation on rights of domestic workers for next government day, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during sixth sitting of the ongoing (sixth) session:
Members’ Participation
- The Assembly met for four hours and 20 minutes while the proceedings were suspended for 28 minutes due to prayers break.
- The sitting started at 1609 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
- The Leader of the House attended the sitting for 17 minutes.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for an hour and two minutes.
- As many as 115 MPAs (31%) were present at the outset while 130 (35%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP and PRHP attended the proceedings.
- As many as five out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.
Output
- Moved by the Minister for Law, the House passed the Punjab Right to Public Services Bill, 2018. The bill was introduced in the House on December 18, 2018. As many as five lawmakers debated the bill for an hour.
- Moved by the Minister for Law, the House debated the Punjab Domestic Workers Bill, 2018 for 27 minutes. The bill was introduced in the House on December 18, 2018. As many as seven lawmakers participated in the debate. The bill was deferred for further discussion.
- The House did not take up the Punjab Prevention of Conflict of Interest Bill, 2018.
- Moved by the Minister for Law, the House approved amendments to the Rule 79, 149, 159, 176 and 180 of the Rules of Procedure of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The government responded to eight out of 11 Starred Questions while three questions were deferred due to absence of the movers. These questions were addressed to the ministries of Communication & Works and Social Welfare & Bait ul Maal. The lawmakers asked 14 supplementary questions as well.
- The House deferred two Adjournment Motions (AM) due to absence of the relevant ministers. The AMs were submitted by lawmakers belonging to PML-N and PML.
- The Minister for Law responded to two Call Attention Notices (CANs) regarding incidents of murders in Gujrat and Bahawalpur. These CANs were raised by lawmakers belonging to PTI and PML-N.
Order and Institutionalization
- As many as 21 lawmakers raised Points of Order consuming 33 minutes of the proceedings.
- A lawmaker belonging to PPPP staged a walkout for 46 minutes against non-representation in the special committees constituted for bill.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on January 15, 2019 (Tuesday) at 1130 hours.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available on the Assembly’s website.
- Information on Members’ attendance is available on the 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 excepted.