ISLAMABAD, August 22, 2013: The Punjab Assembly witnessed the passage of Local Boilers and Pressure Vessels (amendment) Bill 2013 in its eighth sitting of fourth session on Thursday.

Four adjournment motions on appointing male principal at Fatima Jinnah Medical College, vacant position of professors at King Edward Medical College, preparing centralized software to know number of filled and vacant seats in colleges, and building lawyers housing colony at land allocated for Gurdwarawere tabled during the sitting.

The opposition legislators wearing black armbands boycotted the sitting at 1235 hours against the passage of the Local Government Bill 2013.

Four of the six starred questions on the agenda were taken up.  Additionally, five supplementary questions were asked.

The Speaker chaired the entire sitting. The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting as the Leader of Opposition was present for 20 minutes.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Punjab Assembly met for an hour and nine minutes.
• The sitting started at 1214 hours against the scheduled start time of 1000 hours, witnessing a delay of two hours and 14 minutes.
• Eighty-one Members were present at the start and 51 at the end of the sitting.  A maximum of 120 Members were present at one point of the sitting.
• The Speaker presided over the entire proceedings whereas the Deputy Speaker did not attend the sitting.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting whereas Leader of Opposition was present for 20 minutes.
• Only the parliamentary leader of JI attended the sitting.
• None of the Members applied for leave.
• Two Minority Members attended the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Four of the six starred questions on the agenda were taken up and responded by the relevant Ministers. Additionally, five supplementary questions were asked.
• Tabled by Law Minister, the House witnessed the passage of Local Boilers and Pressure Vessels (amendment) Bill 2013.
• Four Adjournment Motions were tabled by PMLN Members. These were about the centralized admission software for the Lahore Education Board to show filled and vacant seats in educational institutes, vacant positions of professors at 12 departments of King Edward Medical College, appointment of male principal at Fatima Jinnah Medical College and building lawyers housing colony at land allocated for Gurdwara.
• Out of two Calling Attention Notices on the agenda, one was taken up. It was about an incident of robbery in Rawalpindi.

• A Special Committee’s report on The Muhammad Nawaz Shareef University of Agriculture Multan Bill 2013 was laid before the house.

Order and Institutionalization

• Legislators raised five Points of Orders consuming three minutes of the proceedings.
• Two incidents of protests and boycotts were observed in the sitting. In protest against Local Government Bill 2013, the opposition parties’ legislators attended the proceedings wearing black armbands. Afterwards all opposition parties – PPPP, PML, PTI and JI – staged a boycott at 1235 hours against the passage of the Local Government Bill 2013.

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