ISLAMABAD, February 1, 2016: The Punjab Assembly passed two bills and witnessed presentation of 13 ordinances during second sitting of its 19^th session on Monday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Punjab Assembly met for three hours and 16 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1542 hours against the scheduled time 1400 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 107 minutes.
• 29 MPAs (8%) were present at outset and 80 (22%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP and JI were present.
• Seven minority members were present.

Output

• The Provincial Law Minister presented 13 Ordinances which included the Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Ordinance 2015; the Fort Monroe Development Authority Ordinance 2015; the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (Amendment) Ordinance 2015; the Punjab Education Foundation (Amendment) Ordinance 2015; the Punjab Vigilance Committees Ordinance 2016; the Fatima Jinnah Medical University Lahore (Amendment) Ordinance 2015; the Punjab Procurement Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Ordinance 2015; the Punjab Local Government (Amendment) Ordinance 2016; the Punjab Prohibition of Child Labour at Bricks Kilns Ordinance 2016; the Punjab Marriage Functions Ordinance 2015; the Punjab Local Government (Second Amendment) Ordinance 2016; the Punjab Economic Research Institute (Amendment) Ordinance 2016 and the Punjab Forest (Amendment) Ordinance 2016.
• The House passed the Punjab Safe Cities Authority Bill 2015 and the Punjab Special Protection Unit Bill 2015.
• The House also witnessed the introduction of the Punjab Public Representatives’ Laws (Amendment) Bill 2016. Three other bills on the agenda were not taken up which included the Punjab Animals Slaughter Control (Amendment) Bill 2016, the Punjab Private Education Commission Bill 2016 and the Punjab Restriction of Employment of Children Bill 2016.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) about law and order while another notice on the same issue was not addressed.
• The House took up 10 out of 16 starred questions. In addition, the lawmakers asked 24 supplementary questions as well.
• Two privilege motions of lawmakers were referred to the relevant committee. The first one was submitted by PML lawmaker against misbehavior of a police official with him while other by PPPP lawmaker was against attitude of EDO Education Layyah.

Order and Institutionalization

• Six points of order consumed 11 minutes of the proceeding.
• A PTI lawmaker pointed out the lacking quorum at 1838 hours following which the Chair ordered the bells to be rung for five minutes. The sitting resumed at 1843 after completion of quorum.
• The entire Opposition staged walk out for 12 minutes when the Chair did not allow the Leader of the Opposition to table a resolution. It was about transferring the benefits of reduced oil prices in international market to the public.
• Later, the entire Opposition walked out of the sitting at 1834 hours over reservations on an amendment bill.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.

To download the factsheet, click here for English- click here for Urdu

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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.