ISLAMABAD, December 27, 2021: The Punjab Assembly passed two government bills and adopted four resolutions to extend as many ordinances for a further period of 90 days, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) it its daily factsheet on Monday.

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

Members’ Participation

• The House met for two hours and 32 minutes.
• The sitting started at 03:36 pm against the scheduled time of 01:00 pm.
• The speaker chaired the sitting for 53 minutes, the deputy speaker for 55 minutes while the remaining sitting was presided over by a member of panel of chairpersons.
• The leaders of the house (chief minister) and the opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 29 MPAs (8%) were present at the outset and 35 (9%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• Parliamentary leader of PRHP attended the sitting.
• Two out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

• Moved by the minister for law, the House passed two government bills including the Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and the Punjab Panah Gah Authority Bill, 2021.
• The House adopted four resolutions to grant 90-day extension to as many ordinances. The extended ordinances were the Punjab Medical and Health Institutions (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021; the Ravi Urban Development Authority (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021; the Punjab Commission on Irregular Housing Schemes (Second Amendment) Ordinance, 2021 and the Punjab Local Government Ordinance 2021.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up seven out of 35 starred questions while lawmakers asked 12 supplementary questions as well.
• Five lawmakers participated in debate on agriculture and spoke for 19 minutes while Minister for agriculture concluded debate on it.
• Minister for law responded to an adjournment motion (AM) regarding non-functional safe city cameras in Toba Tek Singh. The motion was sponsored by a PML-N lawmaker.
• Another AM on the agenda was deferred due to absence of relevant lawmaker.
• Minister for law responded to a calling attention notice regarding murder of a person in Rahim Yar Khan.

Order and Institutionalization

• Six lawmakers spoke on points of order for 24 minutes.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Tuesday, December 28, 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