ISLAMABAD, December 20, 2021: The Punjab Assembly passed three government bills and adopted one resolution on Monday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) it its daily factsheet.

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

Members’ Participation

• The House met for an hour and 37 minutes.
• The sitting started at 03:09 pm against the scheduled time of 01:00 pm.
• The speaker presided over the proceedings for 29 minutes while a member of panel of chairpersons chaired the remaining sitting.
• The deputy speaker was not present.
• The leaders of the house (chief minister) and the opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 33 MPAs (9%) were present at the outset and 42 (11%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• Parliamentary leader of PRHP attended the sitting.
• Three out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

• Moved by the Minister for law, the House passed three government bills including the Ghazi National Institute of Engineering and Sciences, Dera Ghazi Khan Bill, 2021; the Lahore Institute of Science and Technology, Lahore Bill, 2021 and the Grand Asian University, Sialkot Bill, 2021.
• Tabled by a PTI lawmaker, the House adopted a resolution demanding the federal government to decrease agriculture tax and introduce amnesty scheme for the purpose.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up 14 out of 21 starred questions while lawmakers asked 17 supplementary questions as well.
• Minister for law responded to two calling attention notices related to law and order situation.

Order and Institutionalization

• Nine lawmakers spoke on points of order for 16 minutes.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Tuesday, December 21, 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