ISLAMABAD, February 27, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of the Punjab passed four government bills and adopted a resolution to congratulate Pakistan Air Force (PAF) for shooting down two Indian Aircrafts on violation of its airspace, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Wednesday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during sixth sitting of the seventh session:

Members’ Participation

• The Punjab Assembly met for an hour and 49 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1208 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
• The Leader of the House and the Opposition Leader did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 80 MPAs (22%) were present at the outset and 130 (35%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• None of the parliamentary leaders attended the proceedings.
• As many as five out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

• Moved by the Minister for Law, the House passed the Punjab Skills Development Authority Bill, 2018, the Punjab Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2018 and the Board of Technical Education (Amendment) Bill, 2018. These bills were introduced in the House on December 12, 2018 while six lawmakers participated in debate on these bills before passage for 17 minutes.
• Minister for Law also moved the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab Secretariat Employees ‎Bill, 2019 which was passed by the House. It was earlier introduced in the House on February 20, 2019.
• Sponsored by the treasury and opposition lawmakers, the House unanimously adopted a supplementary resolution to congratulate Pakistan Air Force (PAF) for shooting down two Indian Aircrafts on violation of its airspace
• Moved by the Minister for Law, the House unanimously passed an amendment in the Rule 79-A of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business authorizing the Speaker to issue the production order of any nabbed member to attend the meeting of committee of which he is a member.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering responded to eight out of 15 Starred Questions appearing on the agenda. Four questions were deferred on movers’ request while three others were disposed of due to absence of the movers. The lawmakers asked 11 supplementary questions as well.
• A PTI lawmaker’s Adjournment Motion to ban styrofoam packaging for food was referred to a special committee.

Order and Institutionalization

• As many as 13 lawmakers spoke on Point of Orders for 16 minutes.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on February 28, 2019 (Thursday) at 1100 hours.

Transparency

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

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