ISLAMABAD, December 17, 2021: The Punjab Assembly deferred 16 zero hour notices due to absence of relevant ministers on Friday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) it its daily factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during the third sitting of the 38th session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for an hour and 12 minutes.
• The sitting started at 10:58 am against the scheduled time of 09:00 am.
• A member of panel of chairpersons presided over the entire proceedings in the absence of speaker and the deputy speaker.
• The leaders of the house (chief minister) and the opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as nine MPAs (2%) were present at the outset and 39 (11%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• Parliamentary leader of PRHP attended the sitting.
• One out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

• Minister for law presented the forensic audit report on the accounts of Lahore Waste Management Company for the Audit Year 2018-19 and the Audit Report on the Accounts of Waste Management Company Gujranwala, Rawalpindi & Sialkot and the Cattle Market Management Company Lahore, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi & Sargodha for the audit year 2018-19.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up nine out of 22 starred questions while lawmakers asked 14 supplementary questions as well.
• Two adjournment motions were deferred due to ministerial absence while one sponsored by a PML-N lawmaker was referred to the special committee.
• Minister for law responded to a zero hour notice regarding difficulties being faced by women to get financial assistance under Ehsas Program in Sahiwal.
• Sixteen zero hour notices were deferred due to absence of relevant ministers. These notices were related to ministries of Hosing, urban development and public health engineering; primary and secondary health care; environment protection; school education; home ministry; industries and commerce; local government and community development and higher education.

Order and Institutionalization

• The House was adjourned to meet again on Monday, December 20, 2021 at 01:00 pm.

 Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available on Punjab Assembly’s website.
• Information on Members’ attendance is available on Punjab Assembly’s website.

The daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Punjab Assembly proceedings conducted by SANGAT Development Organization – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are regretted