ISLAMABAD, February 11, 2014: The Chief Minister attended third sitting of the ongoing 6th session of Punjab Assembly on Tuesday and briefed the legislators on the projects relating to power generation in the province, says the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

The Chief Minister attended the proceedings after a gap of more than seven months. He gave a 37-minute long policy statement on the steps being taken by the provincial government to deal with the prevailing power crisis.

The House adopted a resolution, sponsored by a female lawmaker of PML-N, urging the government to legislate on cybercrimes. Two other resolutions were deferred on the request of law minister. Moreover, two resolutions were withdrawn by the movers after the opposition from the law minister.

Thirteen of the 35 starred questions (requiring oral as well as written replies) were replied to by the parliamentary secretary of health while 29 supplementary questions were also asked by the lawmakers. Moreover, three of the starred questions were deferred on the request of the movers while 19 others were disposed of due to the absence of the movers.

Members spoke on seven points of order consuming ten minutes of the proceedings to discuss the issues of local government elections, law and order situation and holding of an all-parties conference on health.

The House disposed of two adjournment motions submitted by a PML-N lawmaker while two others were deferred till next week on the request of the relevant minister. The House also disposed of four pending adjournment motions.

Following are some key observations of the Parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings:

• The Punjab Assembly met for three hours and 12 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1030 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours, witnessing a delay of half an hour.
• Thirty-five members were present at the start while a maximum of 203 at the time of adjournment of the sitting.
• The Speaker chaired the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
• The Chief Minister attended the sitting for an hour and ten minutes while the Leader of the Opposition for two hours and 24 minutes.
• Only the parliamentary leader of JI attended the sitting.
• Five minority members were present.
• No member applied for the leave.

Output

• The House adopted a resolution, sponsored by a female lawmaker belonging to PML-N, urging the government to legislate on cybercrimes.
• Two resolutions seeking legislation on rights of home-based workers and provision of free graves in the graveyards across the province were deferred on the request of law minister.
• Moreover, two resolutions relating to relaxation in retirement of government employees and substandard medicines were withdrawn by movers after the law minister opposed them.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Chief Minister gave a 37-minute long policy statement on the steps being taken to tackle power crisis.
• Thirteen of the 35 starred questions (requiring oral as well as written replies) were replied to by parliamentary secretary of health while 29 supplementary questions were also asked by the legislators. Moreover, three of the starred questions were deferred on the request of the movers while 19 others were disposed of due to the absence of the movers.
• The House disposed of two adjournment motions submitted by a PML-N lawmaker while two others by the same member were deferred till next week on the request of the government. The House also disposed of four pending adjournment motions.

Order and Institutionalization

• Members spoke on seven points of order consuming ten minutes of the proceedings to discuss the issues of local government elections, law and order situation and holding of an all-parties conference on health.

Transparency

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

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