ISLAMABAD, December 9, 2014: Starting 35 minutes behind the schedule, the third sitting of the Punjab Assembly’s 11th session was marked by the adoption of six resolutions amid low attendance of lawmakers, says Free and Fair Election Network in its daily factsheet.

The House unanimously adopted six resolutions that demanded the State to take responsibility for orphans; legislation to regulate fees of private medical colleges and monitoring of education facilities; fixing boundaries of cities to protect agricultural lands; removing hurdles for expatriates in obtaining CNICs and passports and exposing the elements involved in import of wheat despite excess production. The members also paid tribute to late Majeed Nizami over his excellent journalistic career through a resolution.

The House continued to witness low attendance as only 4% (14) of the legislators were present at the start and 14% (51) at the adjournment. The quorum was visibly lacking during the entire sitting. However, it was not pointed out by any of the lawmakers in the House. The Leader of the House, Opposition Leader and all except one parliamentary leaders were absent in the sitting.

Lawmakers from opposition parties including PML, PPPP and JI staged a 20-minute walkout to protest the death of a political worker in Faisalabad on Monday.

Five out of 35 starred questions appearing on the agenda were answered by the relevant departments while 16 supplementary questions were raised by the MPAs.

Following are some key observations of the proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings:

• The Punjab Assembly met for two hours and 18 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1035 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours, witnessing a delay of 35 minutes.
• Fourteen members (4%) were present at the outset and 51 (14%) at the adjournment of the sitting. A maximum of 80 (22%) members were observed to be present at one point of the sitting.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting for 72 minutes while rests of the proceedings were presided over by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Leader of the House and the Opposition Leader were absent.
• Only the JI parliamentary leader attended the sitting.
• Two minority members were present.
• Eight members applied for leave.

Output

• The House unanimously adopted six resolutions that demanded the State to take responsibility for orphans; legislation to regulate fees of private medical colleges and monitoring of education facilities; fixing boundaries of cities to protect agricultural lands; removing hurdles for expatriates in obtaining CNICs and passports and exposing the elements involved in import of wheat despite excess production. The members also paid tribute to late Majeed Nizami over his excellent journalistic career through a resolution.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Five out of 35 starred questions appearing on the agenda were answered by the relevant departments while 16 supplementary questions were raised by the MPAs.
• The House took up an adjournment motion (AM) regarding poor standard of injections at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology while another AM on harassment of female students at educational institutions was not taken up. Both AMs were moved by a PML-N lawmaker.
• A PML-N legislator moved a privilege motion against his character assassination by some TV channels which accused him of opening fire in Faisalabad.  The motion was referred to relevant committee.
• Another privilege motion moved by a PML-N lawmaker against DCO Pakpattan was not taken up in the sitting.

Order and Institutionalization

• Lawmakers from the opposition parties including PML, PPPP and JI staged a 20-minute walkout to protest the death of a political worker in Faisalabad on Monday.
• Twelve points of order consumed 19 minutes of the proceedings’ time.

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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This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Punjab Assembly proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization – a member organization of FAFEN