• Nine Bills Left Unaddressed

ISLAMABAD, March 29, 2012: Starting an hour and 50 minutes behind schedule, the first sitting of 36^th session of the Punjab Assembly lasted two hours and 25 minutes.

It witnessed low attendance of Members with only 25 present at the outset and 84 when the sitting was adjourned. Apart from the Leader of the Opposition, none of the parliamentary leaders attended the proceedings.

The Quorum, visibly lacking, was pointed out by a female PPPP MPA. Though the bells were rung for five minutes, the House still lacked Quorum, as the Speaker suspended the proceedings for an hour and five minutes.

The nine Bills on the Orders of the Day were not taken up.  Out of 33 questions listed for the Question Hour, only seven were put up and responded to by the relevant ministries. A total of 15 supplementary questions were raised.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Punjab Assembly met for two hours and 25 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1650 hours instead of the scheduled starting time of 1500 hours. The House proceedings started an hour and 50 minutes late.
• The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
• The Chief Minister was not present while the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 30 minutes.
• None of the parliamentary leaders attended the proceedings.
• Twenty-five Members (7% of the total Membership of 369) were present at the start while 84 (23%) were there when the sitting was adjourned.
• Six minority Members were present.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Out of 33 questions listed for the Question Hour, only seven were put up and responded to by the relevant ministries. A total of 15 supplementary questions were raised.

Output

• Nine Bills appearing on the Orders of the Day were not taken up by the House

Order and Institutionalization

• Two Points of Order were raised during the sitting which consumed three minutes.

• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts during the sitting.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
• The Quorum, visibly lacking, was pointed out by a female PPPP MPA. Though the bells were rung for five minutes, the House still lacked Quorum, as the Speaker suspended the proceedings for an hour and five minutes.

 

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Punjab Assembly proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization, a member organization of FAFEN