ISLAMABAD, June 22, 2021: The Punjab Assembly adopted three resolutions and deferred question hour due to absence of relevant minister, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Tuesday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during the sixth sitting of the 33rd session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for an hour.
• The sitting started at 03:47 pm against the scheduled time of 02:00 pm.
• The speaker presided over the proceedings for 48 minutes while the remaining sitting was chaired by the deputy speaker.
• The leader of the House (chief minister) and the opposition leader did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 41 MPAs (11 percent) were present at the outset and 96 (26 percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• None of the parliamentary leaders attended the sitting.
• One out of eight minority lawmakers was present.

Output

• The House witnessed introduction of six private members’ bills which were referred to the relevant committees for further consideration. These bills were the Punjab Holy Quran (Printing and Recording) (Amendment) Bill, 2021; the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab Privileges (Amendment) Bill, 2021; the Qarshi University (Amendment) Bill, 2021; the Institute of Management and Applied Sciences Khanewal Bill, 2021;the Aspire University Lahore Bill, 2021 and the Punjab Regularization of Service (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
• The House adopted three resolutions demanding to establish separate council for physiotherapy to look into the issues of physiotherapists, repair grills along Lahore-Multan motorway and renovate road leading to Faisalabad from Zafar Chowk, Tehsil Samandri.
• The House rejected a resolution demanding to upgrade District Headquarters Hospital Okara and set up medical college there.
• Three resolutions on the agenda were deferred due to ministerial absence while one was taken back by the mover.

Representation and Responsiveness

• None of the starred questions (requiring oral answers) on the agenda were taken up due to the absence of relevant minister. These questions were related to Higher Education Department.
• Five zero hour notices on the agenda were deferred due to ministerial absence while two were disposed of due to absence of movers.
• Moved by PML lawmakers, the Chair referred two adjournment motions (AMs) to the relevant committee related to non-implementation on legislative proposals passed by Punjab Assembly.

 Order and Institutionalization

• A lawmaker spoke on a point of order for two minutes.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Wednesday, June 23, 2021 at 02:00 pm.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available on Assembly’s website.
• Information on Members’ attendance is available on Assembly’s website.

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Punjab Assembly proceedings conducted by SANGAT Development Foundation, a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted