ISLAMABAD, April 3, 2015: The Punjab Assembly suspended the question hour due to the absence of the Home Department’s secretary on Friday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

The sitting started 74 minutes behind the schedule with 14 lawmakers (4%) present at the start and 70 (19%) at the time of adjournment. The Leader of the House, the Opposition Leader and the parliamentary leaders of all political parties were absent.

The University of Sahiwal Bill 2015 and the University of Jhang Bill 2015 were introduced and sent to the relevant standing committee for further deliberations.

Twenty lawmakers – 17 from PML-N, two from PML-N and an independent member – participated in the pre-budget debate for 84 minutes (54% of the proceedings’ time).

The sitting was adjourned due to missing quorum pointed out by an independent member.

Following are some key observations from the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in the House Proceedings

• The Punjab Assembly met for two hours and 36 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1014 hours against the scheduled time of 0900 hours.
• Fourteen members (4%) were present at the start and 70 (19%) at the end of the sitting.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
• The Leader of the House and the Opposition Leader were absent.
• The parliamentary leaders of all parties were absent.
• Four out of eight minority members were present.

Output

• The Provincial Minister for Zakat & Ushr introduced the University of Sahiwal Bill 2015 which was referred to the relevant standing committee for a report to be submitted within one month.
• The Provincial Minister for Law & Parliamentary Affairs introduced the University of Jhang Bill 2015 which was also referred to the relevant committee for a report to be submitted within two months.
• The Finance Minister presented a special audit report of livestock experimental stations for the 2008-09 fiscal year.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The question hour was suspended due to the absence of the Home Department’s secretary.
• Twenty lawmakers – 17 from PML-N, two from PML and an independent member – participated in the pre-budget debate for 84 minutes (54% of the proceedings’ time).
• The House took up six adjournment motions regarding the absence of 1,700 school heads in Punjab; training of PTC teachers without any material; dilapidated condition of road in Sekar Wala, Gujrat; abandoning the heirs of police officials killed during service; fear among residents of Sambrial, Sialkot due to sale of donkeys meat and failure of a mega sewerage scheme in Rahimyar Khan worth Rs3.5 billion.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised eight points of order that consumed five minutes of the sitting.
• An independent lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1246 hours, following which the sitting was adjourned till Monday.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.

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This 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 excepted.