ISLAMABAD, January 26, 2016: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh passed one private members bill and adopted three resolutions amid low attendance of members on Tuesday during 6th sitting of its ongoing 23rd session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Some key observations are as follows:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Sindh Assembly met for 3 hours and 49 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1108 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
- 28 (17%) lawmakers were present at the start and 39 (23%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- A maximum of 61 (37%) members attended the sitting.
- The Speaker chaired the sitting for 1 hour and 30 minutes while the Deputy Speaker presided over the sitting for 2 hours and 19 minutes.
- The Chief Minister was absent.
- The Leader of Opposition attended the sitting for 24 minutes.
- Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PML-F and PTI attended the sitting.
- Five minority members attended the sitting.
- Two members applied for leave.
Output
- Tabled by PPPP lawmaker, the House passed The Metropolitan University Karachi Bill 2015.
- The House referred three private member bills to relevant Standing Committees. These included the Sindh Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill 2015, the Sindh Minorities Rights Commission Bill, 2015 and the Sindh Criminal Law (Protection of Minorities) Bill, 2015.
- The House adopted two out of five private resolutions appearing on the agenda. The adopted resolutions were about upgrading of Civil Hospital Sanghar and measures to control swine flu in province.
- Tabled jointly by PPPP lawmakers, the House unanimously adopted a resolution regarding admission policy of Karachi University on supplementary agenda.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House took up two out of five starred questions appearing on the agenda. Members also asked 15 supplementary questions.
- Moved by MQM lawmaker, the House debate on an Adjournment Motion (AM) regarding removal of Urdu Speaking (Mohajir) Government Officers from their posts in the province. Debate on AM consumed 20 minutes of sitting time.
Order and Institutionalization
- Lawmakers spoke on 11 Points of Order consuming 15 minutes of the proceeding.
- The House referred a Privilege Motion (PM) moved by MQM lawmaker to the Standing Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges.
- Members belonging to MQM protested within the House for five minutes against the attitude of the Speaker for not admitting motion for leave moved by MQM members to introduce private bill. After protest they boycotted the House proceedings and did not return back to the House.
Transparency
- “Orders of the Day” was available to the legislators, observers and others.
- Information on legislators’ attendance was available to the observers and the public.
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This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.