ISLAMABAD, March 06, 2015: The 15th sitting of the Punjab Assembly’s ongoing session witnessed the passage of 11 bills in 46 minutes amid low attendance of lawmakers, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily factsheet on Friday.

The sitting started 65 minutes behind the schedule with 16 legislators (4%) present at the start and 93 (25%) at the time of adjournment. The Leader of the House and the Opposition Leader did not attend the sitting. Among parliamentary leaders, only PPPP leader was present.

The quorum was pointed out by a PML lawmaker at 1142 hours but was found to be complete upon counting. Two lawmakers, one each of PPPP and PML, protested against passing the women related bills in a haste and without forwarding them to the relevant Standing Committees for further deliberations.

Later, PPPP and PML lawmakers walked out of the House at 1150 hours over the same issue and did not return till adjournment of the sitting.

Introduced by the Provincial Minister for Law, the House passed the Punjab Land Revenue (Amendment) Bill 2015; Punjab Partition of Immovable Property (Amendment) Bill 2015; the Family Courts (Amendment) Bill 2015; the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill 2015; the Muslim Family Laws (Amendment) Bill 2015;  the Punjab Security of Vulnerable Establishments Bill 2015; the Punjab Arms (Amendment) Bill 2015; the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order (Amendment) Bill 2015; the Punjab Criminal Prosecution Service (Constitution, Functions and Powers)(Amendment) Bill 2015; the Punjab Sound Systems (Regulation) Bill 2015 and the Punjab Prohibition of Expressing Matters on Walls (Amendment) Bill 2015.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in the House Proceedings

• The Punjab Assembly met for two hours and 27 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1005 hours against the scheduled time of 0900 hours.
• Sixteen members (4%) were present at the start and 93 (25%) at the end of the sitting.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting in the absence of the Speaker.
• The Leader of the House and the Opposition Leader were absent.
• Among parliamentary leaders, only PPPP leader was present.
• One out of eight minority members attended the proceedings.
• No member applied for leave.

Output

• The House passed the Punjab Land Revenue (Amendment) Bill 2015; Punjab Partition of Immovable Property (Amendment) Bill 2015; the Family Courts (Amendment) Bill 2015; the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill 2015; the Muslim Family Laws (Amendment) Bill 2015;  the Punjab Security of Vulnerable Establishments Bill 2015; the Punjab Arms (Amendment) Bill 2015; the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order (Amendment) Bill 2015; the Punjab Criminal Prosecution Service (Constitution, Functions and Powers)(Amendment) Bill 2015; the Punjab Sound Systems (Regulation) Bill 2015; and the Punjab Prohibition of Expressing Matters on Walls (Amendment) Bill 2015.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Thirteen out of 22 starred questions were taken up and responded to by the relevant government departments. In addition, the lawmakers raised 28 supplementary questions.
• The House took up five adjournment motions regarding misuse of authority by office-bearers of Government Officers Cooperative Society Lahore; dilapidated conditions of schools in Faisalabad; allotting land of government girls primary school (57 GD) to private persons for agricultural purpose in Sahiwal; use of mosque’s land by political figures in Jampur for accommodation purposes and constructing buildings in Tandlianwala without following Building bye-laws.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised seven points of order that consumed three minutes of the sitting.
• The quorum was pointed out by a PML lawmaker at 1142 hours but was found to be complete upon counting.
• Two lawmakers, one each of PPPP and PML, protested for two minutes against passing the women related bills in a haste and without forwarding them to the relevant Standing Committees for further deliberations.
• PPPP and PML lawmakers walked out of the House at 1150 hours over the same issue and did not return till adjournment of the sitting.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to 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.