The Punjab Assembly passed 11 bills, adopted 14 resolutions and held pre-budget discussion during its 20th session that continued from March 30 to April 15, 2016. The session started a day after the terrorist attack in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, Lahore and was underway when the issue of Panama Leaks surfaced. The house discussed both the issues and adopted resolutions on them.
According to FAFEN, the cumulative duration of 13 sittings held during the session was 35 hours and 31 minutes while each sitting, on average, started 69 minutes before its scheduled time and continued for two hours and 43 minutes. The chief minister did not attend any sitting while the leader of the opposition was present in 10 sittings. The speaker presided over 56 per cent of the proceedings, the deputy speaker 37 per cent, while a member of the panel of chairpersons acted as speaker for the remaining duration.
The legislative agenda brought before the house comprised 12 government bills and an ordinance. The house approved 11 bills related to local government, institutional development, natural resources’ management, meat-sale and transport. The ordinance providing relief to civilian victims of terrorism and another bill regarding setting up of agriculture, food and drug regulatory authority were sent to the relevant committee for further deliberations.
The house adopted 14 resolutions, six among them were private. Moreover, three private resolutions were dropped after appearing on the agenda due to absence of the sponsors. Among others, the house approved six resolutions seeking extension in the term of six ordinances promulgated by the Punjab governor.
Nine standing committees presented 11 reports on legislative proposals and privilege motions referred to them by the house. Moreover, the assembly granted extension in time for presentation of 18 reports, including a report of the public accounts committee. The house also held discussion on the annual report of Punjab Bait-ul-Maal for the year 2013 during the last sitting of the session and the discussion will continue in the next session.
The lawmakers raised seven calling attention notices drawing the attention of the government to matters of law and order. The minister for law and parliamentary affairs made statements on these notices on the floor of the house.
The house admitted 41 adjournment motions for discussion during the session. Of these, 21 were disposed off after the government’s response; one was referred to the relevant committee while 19 are pending. Pakistan Muslim Leaugue-N (PMLN) lawmakers submitted 21 adjournment motions, 12 were moved by Pakistan Muslim League (PML) MPAs while PTI and PPPP lawmakers submitted 8 and 1 adjournment motions respectively.
As many as 314 questions were listed for answers during the session, of which, 247 were starred and 70 unstarred. The rules require the government to answer a starred question orally as well as in writing while the unstarred questions are to be replied only in writing. However, only 98 starred questions were taken up and replied to on the floor of the house.
The assembly also held pre-budget discussion to solicit proposals for allocation of funds for upcoming financial year. 66 lawmakers shared their suggestions for the budget 2016-17 consuming 561 minutes.
Following the recent amendments to Rules of Procedure, the assembly now reserves last half an hour to raise the matters of urgent public importance. Two such matters were raised by a PML-N lawmaker during the session.
The lawmakers raised 72 points of order consuming 102 minutes of the session’s duration. The lawmakers discussed various issues related to the governance, security, development and business of the house.
An independent lawmaker and those belonging to the treasury submitted seven questions of privilege against public servants for misbehaving with the elected representatives. All these questions were referred to the relevant committee for perusal.
The opposition parties registered their protest against the prolonged absence of chief minister from the house and on the issue of Panama Leaks on six occasions during the session.
Two of the sittings had to be adjourned due to the lack of quorum while once the required number was found complete upon counting, the customary bells were rung for five minutes.
