• Session prorogued

ISLAMABAD, December 28, 2021: The Punjab Assembly passed six private members’ bills and adopted three resolutions on Tuesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) it its daily factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during the ninth and last sitting of the 38th session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for two hours and 14 minutes.
• The sitting started at 03:27 pm against the scheduled time of 01:00 pm.
• The speaker chaired the sitting for 55 minutes while the remaining sitting was presided over by a member of panel of chairpersons.
• The deputy speaker was not present.
• The leaders of the house (chief minister) and the opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 19 MPAs (5%) were present at the outset and 41 (11%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• Parliamentary leader of PRHP attended the sitting.
• One out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

• The House passed six private members’ bills which were the Punjab Regularization of Services (Amendment) Bill, 2021; the University of the Central Punjab (Amendment) Bill, 2021; the University of Rawalpindi Bill, 2021; the University of Arts and Sciences Bill, 2021; the Nur International University Lahore (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and the Salar University Bill, 2021.
• Two private members’ bills were introduced in the House which were referred to the relevant committee. These bills were the Lahore University Bill, 2021 and the Smart University of Sciences and Technology Bill, 2021.
• The House adopted three resolutions demanding the provincial government to establish an autonomous authority in cooperatives department, revise pay scales of government employees and organize special programs on the death anniversary of Hazrat Abu Bakar Siddique (RA).
• The House rejected a resolution regarding the uniformity of interest rate on foreign and national currency for resident and non-resident Pakistanis.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up ten out of 36 starred questions while lawmakers asked 17 supplementary questions as well.
• Minister for law responded to two zero hour notices regarding absence of Rescue 1122 service in District Nankana (PP-134) and non-payment to the family of deceased sanitary worker of Municipal Corporation Sargodha who lost his life during cleansing of gutter.

Order and Institutionalization

• Four lawmakers spoke on points of order for eight minutes.
• The session was prorogued sine die.

 Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was not available on Punjab Assembly’s website.
• Information on Members’ attendance is available on Punjab Assembly’s website.

The daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Punjab Assembly proceedings conducted by SANGAT Development Organization – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are regretted