ISLAMABAD, August 31, 2016: The Punjab Assembly passed two government bills amending the Punjab Revenue Authority Act 2012 and the Punjab Animal Slaughter Control Act 1963 on Wednesday, , observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during eighth sitting of the 23^rd session:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Punjab Assembly met for three hours and 24 minutes.
• The proceedings remained suspended for ten minutes due to break.
• The sitting started at 1108 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was not present.
• The Leader of the House (Chief Minister) did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for an hour and 19 minutes.
• Ten lawmakers (2%) were present at outset and 41 (11%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leader of JI attended the sitting.
• Three minority members were present.

Output

• The House passed the Punjab Revenue Authority (Second Amendment) Bill 2016 and the Punjab Animals Slaughter Control (Second Amendment) Bill 2016. Seven lawmakers took part in discussion on these bills consuming an hour and three minutes.
• The Standing Committee on Local Government presented its reports on the Bill No. 25/2016 and Question No. 2923. Moreover, the House also granted extension in time to the Standing Committees on Local Government, Excise & Taxation, Forestry & Wildlife and Labour & Human Resource Housing and Urban for presentation of their reports.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as 12 out of 34 Starred Questions were responded to on floor of the House by the government while 11 were disposed of due to absence of the movers and two were deferred. The lawmakers also asked 22 supplementary questions.
• The House deferred four Adjournment Motions (AMs) submitted by lawmakers belonging to PML-N regarding climate change, spread of hepatitis and diabetes, commercialization of residential areas and fake spiritual healers.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on 12 Points of Order consuming 16 minutes of the proceedings.
• Entire opposition staged walkout in protest against the partisan attitude of the Chair. They returned to the proceedings after 42 minutes.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Information on Members’ attendance (except for parliamentary functionaries) is available on Punjab Assembly’s website.

The 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.