ISLAMABAD, November 10, 2014: The Sindh Assembly passed three bills and took up four Calling Attention Notices (CANs) during the 6^th sitting of 15^th session on Monday, says the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Tabled by the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs the House passed three bills including the Sindh Epidemic Diseases Bill 2014, the Sindh Eye Surgery (Restriction) Bill 2014 and the Sindh Tuberculosis Notification Bill 2014.

Two MQM members moved an adjournment motion to discuss cases of violence against women in Sindh. It was admitted for debate and three members spoke on it for six minutes.

The House took up four Calling Attention Notices regarding provision of higher education to the students of Hyderabad, a letter from the Transparency International Pakistan to the Sindh Chief Secretary raising serious concerns about change in route of Karachi Water Supply Project, the performance of Sukkur Municipal Corporation, loans taken from the Asian Development Bank and procedure to their repayment and reasons behind not initiating a single mega project in Karachi. The relevant ministers assured the movers of resolving these issues.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in the House Proceedings

• The Sindh Assembly met for six hours and 23 minutes.
• The sitting witnessed a delay of 16 minutes as it began at 1016 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for 3 hours 30 minutes while the Deputy Speaker for an hour and 43 minutes.
• The Chief Minister attended the sitting for an hour and 22 minutes while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 4 hours and 50 minutes
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP and PML-F attended the sitting.
• Seven members (4%) were present at the start and 65 (39%) at the end while a maximum of 87 (52%) were observed to be present at one point during the sitting.
• Four minority members attended the sitting.
• Four members applied for leave.

 Output

• Tabled by the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, the House passed three bills including the Sindh Epidemic Diseases Bill 2014, the Sindh Eye Surgery (Restriction) Bill 2014 and the Sindh Tuberculosis Notification Bill 2014.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Tabled by a MQM member, the House discussed a privilege motion against the rude attitude of the Assistant Commissioner Mirpurkhas. However, the mover withdrew it afterwards.
• Tabled by two MQM members, the House debated an adjournment motion regarding cases of violence against women in Sindh. Three members spoke on it for six minutes.
• The House took up four Calling Attention Notices regarding provision of higher education to the students of Hyderabad, a letter from the Transparency International Pakistan to the Sindh Chief Secretary raising serious concerns about change in route of Karachi Water Supply Project, the performance of Sukkur Municipal Corporation, loans taken from the Asian Development Bank and procedure to their repayment and reasons behind not initiating a single mega project in Karachi.
• Three out of six starred questions (requiring oral as well written reply) appearing on the agenda were taken up and responded by the relevant minister while 18 supplementary questions were also asked.

Order and Institutionalization

• No instances of protests, walkouts or boycotts were observed.
• The members spoke on 14 points of orders consuming 25 minutes of proceedings’ time. The Speaker gave his ruling on three points of order.

Transparency

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