ISLAMABAD, March 29, 2017: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh transacted the entire business appearing on the Orders of the Day and passed five government bills during the course of proceedings on Wednesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during third sitting of the 31st session:
Members’ Participation
- The Sindh Assembly met for four hours and eight minutes.
- The sitting started at 1127 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for three hours and 30 minutes while the rest of proceedings were chaired by a Member of Panel of Chairpersons.
- The Deputy Speaker was absent.
- The Chief Minister attended the proceedings for two hours and 58 minutes.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for an hour and 32 minutes.
- Forty-four lawmakers (27%) were present at the start and 60 (36%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM and PTI were present.
- Six minority members attended the sitting.
- Six members applied for leave.
Output
- The House passed five government bills, including the Sindh Coal Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Sindh Revenue Board (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Jacobabad Institute of Medical Sciences (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Sindh Development and Maintenance of Infrastructure Cess Bill, 2017 and the Sindh Shaheed Recognition and Compensation (Amendment) Bill, 2017.
- Moved by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, the House adopted a motion under Rule 115 to withdraw the Sindh Coal Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2017.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Six out of eight Starred Questions were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministers. The lawmakers also asked 28 Supplementary Questions.
- The House took up five Call Attention Notices (CANs) on various issues of public importance.
Order and Institutionalization
- A lawmaker spoke on one Point of Order, consuming two minutes of the proceedings.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- Attendance of lawmakers was not available on website of the Assembly.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Sindh Assembly proceedings, conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.
