KP Assembly Passes Six Bills, Adopts Two Resolutions

  • Session Prorogued

ISLAMABAD, March 21, 2014: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly passed six bills and adopted two resolutions on Friday during seventh and last sitting of the 11th session, says Free and Fair Election Network in its Daily Factsheet.

The bills passed include the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Hotels Restriction (Security) Bill, 2014, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance (Amendment) Bill, 2014, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa River Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2014, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Surrender of Illicit Arms Bill, 2014, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government (Amendment) Bill and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Housing Authority Amendment Bill, 2014.

The House also adopted two resolutions regarding setting up of a commission to decide about establishment of new provinces on administrative basis, including Hazara province and renaming the province as Hazara Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The House took up two calling attention notices (CANs). The first CAN, sponsored by JUI-F lawmaker, was about establishing a school for special children in Buner while the other CAN, sponsored by PML-N female legislator, was about non-issuance of driving licenses to road users in Abbottabad due to tug of war between officials of police and district administration.

The House gave approval to the report of the committee for enhancing salaries of the legislators.

The members raised two points of orders, consuming two minutes of the proceedings.

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings:

  • The KP Assembly met for three hours and 50 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1600 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours, witnessing a delay of an hour.
  • The House had two prayer breaks for an hour and 40 minutes.
  • The Speaker chaired the rest of the sitting.
  • The Chief Minister was present during entire sitting while the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the proceedings.
  • The parliamentary leaders of AJIP, ANP, PPPP and JI attended the proceedings.
  • Fifty-five members were present at the outset, 36 at the adjournment while a maximum of 75 were there at a point of the sitting.
  • Three minority members attended the sitting.
  • Three members applied for leave.

Output

  • The Assembly passed six bills. These include Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Hotels Restriction (Security) Bill, 2014, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance (Amendment) Bill, 2014, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa River Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2014, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Surrender of Illicit Arms Bill, 2014, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government (Amendment) Bill and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Housing Authority Amendment Bill, 2014.
  • Tabled by PTI lawmaker, the House also adopted a resolution regarding setting up of a commission to decide about the establishment of new provinces on administrative basis, including Hazara province. Nine lawmakers – PML-N (3), PTI (2) and one each of JUI-F, ANP, QWP and JI – spoke on the resolution.
  • Tabled by provincial health minister, the House also adopted another resolution about renaming the province as Hazara Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • The House took up two calling attention notices (CANs). The first CAN, sponsored by JUI-F lawmaker, was about establishing a school for special children in Buner while the other CAN, sponsored by PML-N female lawmaker, was about non-issuance of driving licenses to road users in Abbottabad due to tug of war between officials of police and district administration
  • No question hour was held as there were no starred questions on the agenda.

Order and Institutionalization

  • The members raised two points of order consuming two minutes of the proceedings.
  • PML-N lawmaker pointed out the quorum and the Chair ordered the bells to be rung for two minutes. However, the sitting resumed after the quorum was found complete.
  • There was no instance of walkout, protest or boycott during the proceedings.

Transparency

  • ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
  • ·         Information on members’ attendance was not available to observers and the public.

 

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of KP Assembly proceedings conducted by PAIMAN, a member organization of FAFEN