ISLAMABAD, August 29, 2013: Two bills were passed and nine adjournment motions were raised in the 13^th sitting of fourth session of Punjab Assembly on Thursday.

The Muhammad Nawaz Sharif University of Agriculture Multan Bill 2013 and the Punjab Police Order (Amendment) Bill 2013 were passed.

Nine adjournment motions about education, health, housing, employment, environment and inflation were raised during the sitting. A Calling Attention Notice about the killing of a guard by dacoits at a police station in Faisalabad was taken up.

The Speaker chaired the proceedings for four hours and 40 minutes while Deputy Speaker chaired the remaining one hour and eight minutes of the sitting.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Punjab Assembly met for five hours and 48 minutes.
• The sitting started an hour and seven minutes at 1107 hours against the schedule start time of 1000 hours.
• Thirty-four members were present at the beginning, 82 at the end, and a maximum of 110 members at a point during the sitting.
• The Speaker chaired the proceedings for four hours and 40 minutes while Deputy Speaker chaired the remaining one hour and eight minutes of the sitting.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting, while the Leader of Opposition attended the sitting for one hour and 25 minutes.
• The parliamentary leaders of JI and PPPP attended the sitting.
• No member applied for leave.
• Four minority members attended the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Out of 33 starred questions appearing on the agenda about the Health department, 13 were taken up. All of them were addressed by the relevant Minister. Additionally 29 supplementary questions were asked. 
• The House passed the Muhammad Nawaz Sharif University of Agriculture Multan Bill 2013 and The Punjab Police Order (amendment) Bill 2013. Both of them were introduced by a PML-N member.  
• A PTI legislator tabled a Calling Attention Notice about the killing of a guard by dacoits at the police station in Faisalabad. The notice was taken up by the House.
• Nine Adjournment Motions consuming 25 minutes were raised in the House. These were about the stagnant water in educational institute in Faisalabad, 100% price hike of vegetables, wheat price hike, out of order angiography machines at Punjab Institute of Cardiology, factories causing damage to environment, increase in dengue virus patients in Punjab, exclusion of names of two Nishan-e-Haider awarded martyrs from the curriculum, appointment of an under qualified officer as DOC, and construction of residential flats on the Government Chaubuji gardens.

 Order and Institutionalization

• Legislators raised six points of orders consuming four minutes of the sitting.
• All opposition parties staged a walkout at 0452 hours in protest as they were not allowed to speak on an amendment in a bill.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Information on legislators’ attendance was not available to the observers and the public.  

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Punjab Assembly proceedings conducted by PATTAN, a member organization of FAFEN