ISLAMABAD, March 11, 2014: The Punjab Assembly adopted five resolutions on Tuesday during the third sitting of 7^th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Three of these resolutions were sponsored by PML-N lawmakers and two by PTI legislators. The House rejected another resolution of PTI lawmaker by 77 votes to 20 votes.

A PML-N lawmaker introduced the Punjab Prohibition of Sheesha Smoking Bill, 2014 which was referred to the relevant committee.

Through the resolutions, the House called upon the government to ban manufacturing, sale and import of toy guns, establish lady police station, include basic human rights in syllabi of educational institutions and to set up book streets in the province. The Provincial Assembly also passed unanimously a resolution, brought out-of-turn by the Leader of the Opposition, condemning the statement of MQM chief calling upon army to take over the government.

The Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government and Community Development Department responded to 10 of the total 35 starred questions (requiring oral as well as written replies). Twenty questions were disposed off due to the absence of movers while two were deferred. Additionally, members asked 22 supplementary questions.

The opposition members staged a token walkout for 5 minutes against absence of relevant ministers during the Question Hour.

Following are some key observations of the Parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings:

• The Punjab Assembly met for two hours and 39 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1525 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours, witnessing a delay of 25 minutes.
• A total of 62 members were present at the start and 95 at the adjournment while a maximum of 104 at a point during the proceedings.
• The Speaker chaired the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was absent.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present for an hour and 24 minutes.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP and JI attended the sitting.
• Three minority members were present.
• No member applied for the leave.

 Output

• The House adopted five resolutions, three sponsored by PML-N lawmakers and two by PTI legislators.
• Through these resolutions, the members called upon the government to ban manufacturing, sale and import of toy guns, establish lady police station, include basic human rights in syllabi of educational institutions and to set up book streets in the province. The Provincial Assembly also unanimously passed a resolution, brought out-of-turn by the Leader of the Opposition, condemning the statement of MQM chief calling upon army to take over the government.
• The House rejected another resolution of PTI lawmaker by 77 votes to 20 votes. The resolution was regarding free of cost graves digging in graveyards.
• A PML-N lawmaker introduced the Punjab Prohibition of Sheesha Smoking Bill, 2014 which was referred to the relevant committee.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government and Community Development Department responded to 10 of the total 35 starred questions (requiring oral as well as written replies). Twenty questions were disposed off due to the absence of movers while two were deferred. Additionally, members asked 22 supplementary questions.
• The House also took up 10 adjournment motions deferred in an earlier sitting. Six of these were disposed off after relevant ministry replied to them while four were deferred again.

Order and Institutionalization

• The opposition members staged a token walkout for 5 minutes against absence of relevant ministers during the Question Hour.
• Members spoke on 20 points of order consuming 22 minutes of the proceedings.

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