ISLAMABAD, December 23, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Punjab transacted entire agenda appearing on its List of Business amid low attendance of lawmakers on Monday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during fourth sitting of the 17th session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for an hour and 57 minutes, however, the sitting remained suspended for 16 minutes due to prayer break.
- The sitting started at 1613 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for one hour while rest of the sitting was chaired by a Member of Panel of Chairpersons in the absence of the Deputy Speaker.
- The Leaders of the House and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- As many as 26(7%) MPAs were present at the outset and 54(15%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP did not attend the proceedings.
- Three out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.
Output
- The Law Minister introduced the University of North Punjab, Chakwal Bill, 2019 which was referred to the Standing Committee on Higher Education.
- The Minister for Law presented three audit reports on the accounts of District Health Authorities, District Education Authorities and construction of Lahore Orange Line Metro Train Project which were referred to the Public Accounts Committee.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House took up seven out of 34 starred questions appearing on the list while the lawmakers asked 13 supplementary questions.
- The Minister for Law responded to two Calling Attention Notices related to law and order situation in the province.
- The government replied to two out of five Adjournment Motions appearing on agenda.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers spoke on eleven Points of Order consuming 12 minutes of the proceedings.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on December 24, 2019 (Tuesday) at 1500 hours.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available on Assembly’s website.
- Information on Members’ attendance is available on 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