ISLAMABAD, June 24, 2015: The Punjab Assembly passed six bills (including the Punjab Finance Bill 2015) and adopted a resolution to commend the federal government’s efforts in minimizing load shedding in the country on Wednesday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

The House continued to witness low attendance of lawmakers as 73 members (20% of the membership) were present at the start of the sitting and 83 (22%) at the time of adjournment.

Apart from the Finance Bill, the House passed the Punjab Infrastructure Development Cess Bill 2015, the Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2015, the Stamp (Amendment) Bill 2015, Punjab Mass transit Authority Bill 2015 and the Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan (Amendment) Bill 2015. In addition, the Finance Minister laid the schedule of authorized expenditure for the fiscal year 2015-16.

The House mourned the death of hundreds of people in a deadly heatwave in Karachi through the adopted resolution and praised the federal government’s efforts to curb load shedding in the country. On the other hand, three other resolutions seeking extension of three ordinances were not taken up during the sitting.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Punjab Assembly met for two hours and seven minutes.
• The sitting started at 1139 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• 73 members (20%) were present at the start and 83 (22%) at the end of the sitting.
• A maximum of 112 (30%) members attended the proceedings.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting for 114 minutes.
• The Deputy Speaker presided over the sitting for 13 minutes.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
•  The Opposition Leader was present for 97 minutes.
• The Finance Minister attended the sitting for two hours and three minutes.
• The parliamentary leaders of JI and PPPP were present.
• Four minority members attended the proceedings.
• No member applied for the leave.

Output

• The House passed the Punjab Finance Bill 2015, the Punjab Infrastructure Development Cess Bill 2015, the Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2015, the Stamp (Amendment) Bill 2015, Punjab Mass transit Authority Bill 2015 and the Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan (Amendment) Bill 2015.
• The Finance Minister laid the schedule of authorized expenditure for the fiscal year 2015-16.
• The House also adopted a resolution to mourn the death of hundreds of people in Karachi and commend the federal government’s efforts in minimizing load shedding in the country.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised four points of order that consumed two minutes of the sitting.
• Opposition members walked out of the House at 1319 hours for including agenda items other than the Finance Bill on the list of business and did not return till the sitting’s adjournment.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Information on members’ attendance was also available to the 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. Errors and omissions are excepted.