Punjab Assembly Passes Finance Bill 2014

  • Opposition Lawmakers Did Not Attend the Sitting
  • Two Bills Passed; Five Ordinances Laid, One Adopted

 ISLAMABAD, June 24, 2014: The provincial assembly passed the Punjab Finance Bill 2014 in the absence of opposition members during 8th sitting of its 9th session on Tuesday, says Free and Fair Election Network in its Daily Factsheet.

The Schedule of Authorized Expenditure for the year 2014-15 and five ordinances, including Punjab Local Government (Amendment) Ordinances (VI & VII of 2014), Punjab Registration of Godowns Ordinance 2014, Punjab Strategic Coordination Ordinance 2014 and Punjab Overseas Pakistanis Commission Ordinance 2014, were laid during the sitting.

Introduced by Provincial Law Minister, the House passed two bills comprising Bab-e-Pakistan Foundation Bill 2014 and Management and Transfer of Properties by Development Authorities Bill 2014.

Tabled by Provincial Law Minister, the House adopted a resolution to extend the Punjab Free and Compulsory Education Ordinance 2014 (V of 2014), promulgated on May 13 2014, for a further period of ninety days with effect from August 11, 2014.

The Chief Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and lawmakers belonging to opposition parties did not attend the sitting.

The House offered fateha for the former MPA Pir Shujaat Hasnian Qureshi who passed away recently.

Following are some key observations of the proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings:

  • The Punjab Assembly met for an hour.
  • The sitting started at 1000 hours against the scheduled time of 0900 hours, witnessing a delay of an hour.
  • There were 98 members at the outset and maximum 126 at the adjournment of sitting.
  • The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
  • The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
  • The parliamentary leader of PML-Z attended the sitting.
  • One minority member was present.
  • None of the members applied for leave.

Output 

  • The Punjab Assembly passed the Punjab Finance bill 2014.
  • The Schedule of the Authorized Expenditure for the year 2014-15 was laid before the House.
  • Provincial Law Minister laid five ordinances, including Punjab Local Government (Amendment) Ordinances (VI & VII of 2014), Punjab Registration of Godowns Ordinance 2014, Punjab Strategic Coordination Ordinance 2014 and Punjab Overseas Pakistanis Commission Ordinance 2014.
  • Introduced by Provincial Law Minister, the House passed two bills, comprising Bab-e-Pakistan Foundation Bill 2014 and Management and Transfer of Properties by Development Authorities Bill, 2014.
  • Tabled by Provincial Law Minister, the House adopted a resolution to extend the Punjab Free and Compulsory Education Ordinance 2014 (V of 2014), promulgated on May 13, 2014 for a further period of ninety days with effect from August 11, 2014.

Order and Institutionalization

  • One Point of Order consumed one minute of the proceedings.
  • The opposition lawmakers did not attend the sitting.

Transparency

  • ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
  • Information on members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.

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