ISLAMABAD, May 2, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Punjab referred five audit reports on previous government’s development projects to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

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

Members’ Participation

• The House met for an hour and 48 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1606 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
• The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting in the absence of Speaker.
• The Leaders of the House and the Opposition did not attend the proceedings.
• As many as 50 MPAs (13%) were present at the outset and 109 (29%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP and PRHP attended the sitting.
• As many as two out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

• Moved by PRHP lawmaker, the House unanimously adopted a supplementary resolution demanding the Federal Government to ensure respect of Islamic teachings on television channels while broadcasting programs during the Holy month of Ramadan.
• The Minister for Law presented five Audit Reports related to various departments of the provincial government. The House referred these reports to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for review.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Ministers for Education responded to 11 out of 16 Starred Questions while one question was disposed of due to absence of the mover and four were not taken up. The lawmakers asked 18 supplementary questions as well.
• The House deferred two Adjournment Motions (AM) due to absence of the concerned Ministers.
• The Minister for Law responded to a Call Attention Notice regarding murders of six persons in district Rajanpur.
• A Zero Hour Notice raised by PTI lawmaker regarding increase in fee structure of Medical and Dental College remained unaddressed due to absence of the concerned minister.

Order and Institutionalization

• As many as 21 lawmakers raised Points of Order consuming 31 minutes of the proceedings.
• Moved by PPPP and PTI lawmakers, the House referred two Privilege Motions to the concerned standing committee.
• PML-N lawmakers pointed out lack of quorum for three times during the proceeding but it was ignored by the Chair.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on May 3, 2019 (Friday) at 0900 hours.

Transparency

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

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