ISLAMABAD, December 30, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Punjab took up entire agenda appearing on Orders of the Day on Monday and unanimously passed the University of North Punjab, Chakwal Bill 2019, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during eighth sitting of the 17th session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for two hours and 33 minutes, however, the sitting remained suspended for 48 minutes due to prayer break.
- The sitting started at 1623 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting in absence of the Deputy Speaker.
- The Leaders of the House and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- As many as 43 (12%) MPAs were present at the outset and 102 (27%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leader of PRHP attended the proceedings.
- Four out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.
Output
- Moved by Minister for Law, the House unanimously passed the University of North Punjab, Chakwal Bill 2019 with recommendations of the Standing Committee on Higher Education. Three lawmakers including the Minister for Higher Education debated the bill for nine minutes.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House took up eight out of 36 starred questions appearing on the list while the lawmakers asked 16 supplementary questions.
- The Minister for Law responded to two Call Attention Notices related to law and order situation in the province.
- An Adjournment Motions (AM) of PML-N lawmaker was kept pending as it did not receive reply from the concerned department.
Order and Institutionalization
- As many as five lawmakers spoke on nine Points of Order consuming 24 minutes of the proceedings.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on December 31, 2019 (Tuesday) at 1500 hours.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available on 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 regretted