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Free and Fair Election Networkwww.fafen.org I www.openparliament.pk
3rd Parliamentary Year 2015-16
ANNUALPERFORMANCEAPPRAISAL OFTHE PUNJABASSEMBLY
FAFEN PARLIAMENTMONITOR
HIGHLIGHTS
195Hours & 21 Minutes
CumulativeDuration
75ActualSittings
WorkingDays
101
TotalSessions
7The Punjab Assembly remained
more productive during its third year
of current term as compared to
preceding years in terms of passing
legislative pieces but the issues of
order and participation stubbornly
persisted.
The number of sittings of the
Assembly increased from 62 in the
second year to 75 in the third but
punctuality issues persisted, as
every sitting continued to start, on
an average, 77 minutes behind the
schedule.
On the output of the Assembly, the
number of bills passed during third
year surpassed the number of bills
cumulatively passed during first two
years. All the bills passed were
moved by treasury and were
apparently supplied to executive on
its demand as members' zero
individual interest in legislation
continued to exist. Only one private
member bill was introduced during
the entire year in a house of 368.
On the order and institutionalization,
misuse of points of order continued
to be witnessed. Despite the
provision of Zero Hour in the Rules
of Procedure, the lawmakers kept on
using Points of Order to raise the
unrelated issues.
If the number of committee reports
can be a measure of standing
committees' performance, it
registered some improvement as 48
reports were presented before the
House. Another positive
development was a number of
amendments in the Rules of
Procedure which made provisions
for Annual Calendar of the
Assembly, Zero Hour and time-
bound election of the standing
committees.
The average attendance remained
as low as 46% during the year with
the maximum of 68% members
present in one sitting while 252
lawmakers took part in the
proceedings by submitting agenda
items, speaking on floor of the
House or by doing both. The
absence of Leader of the House
persisted during third year as well.
The Assembly held discussions on
incidents of terrorism that claimed
several lives, including that of
Provincial Home Minister, trials of
Jamat-e-Islami leadership in
Bangladesh, problems of agriculture
sector, Orange Line Metro project
and measures of good governance
in the province.
Members disinterestpersists while legislativeproductivity increases
On average, 46% lawmakers remained absentfrom each sitting
THREE-YEAR COMPARISON
1st ParliamentaryYear
2nd ParliamentaryYear
3rd ParliamentaryYear
Actual Sittings 70 62 75
Working Days 99 101 101
Total Time (Hour) 215 161 195
Average Delay (Minutes) 80 71 77
Average Attendance at Start 83 28 75
Average Maximum Attendance 98 47 26
Govt. Member Bills Passed 31 37 46
Bills Introduced (Private Members) 1 1 1
Private Members Bills Passed 0 0 0
CANs Taken Up 32 28 37
Resolutions Adopted 48 51 59
Starred Questions 1,226 1,563 1,308
Unstarred Questions 0 208 524
Reports Presented/Extension Granted 56 64 111
Adjournment Motions Disposed Of 208 134 156
Amendments to the Rules of Procedure 0 0 24
Protests/Walkouts/Boycotts 41 26 44
Identification of Quorum 28 30 29
16th Punjab Assembly
HIGHLIGHTS
Duration and Attendance
Participation
The third parliamentary year of the
Punjab Assembly, spanning over 75
sittings, was clubbed into seven
sessions (15th to 21st), and held
between June 10, 2015 and May 26,
2016. The Assembly met for 101
days, one day more than the
Constitutional requirement of 100
working days in a parliamentary
year. The working days include any
period, not exceeding two days, for
which the Assembly is adjourned.
The cumulative duration of 75
sittings remained 195 hours and 21
minutes, including four hours and 29
minutes consumed in breaks or
suspensions. The Speaker and the
Deputy Speaker presided over 65%
and 34% proceedings respectively
while the Panel of Chairpersons ran
the House for the remaining
duration. The Chief Minister
attended only four sittings
throughout the year and spent two
hours and 36 minutes in the House
while the Leader of the Opposition
remained present for 80 hours and
59 minutes in 64 sittings.
On average, every sitting was
attended by 200 lawmakers that
make up only 54% of total
membership of the House. The
maximum attendance was recorded
during the Budget Session (15th)
when 252(68%) lawmakers were
marked present in a sitting.
Meanwhile, the minimum
attendance was observed 156 in
ninth sitting during 16th session.
The lawmakers may participate in
the proceedings by submitting
agenda items and/or by taking part
in the discussions or deliberations
on floor of the House. As many as
252 lawmakers took part in the
proceedings by submitting agenda
items, speaking on floor of the
House or by doing both during third
parliamentary year. The
participation of various
parliamentary parties was
proportionate to their respective
strength in the House. The active
lawmakers included 206 members
of PML-N, 26 of PTI, six each of
PPPP and PML, and two of PML-Z.
Moreover, four independents and
sole members of PNML and JI also
participated in the proceedings.
During the reporting period, 116
lawmakers did not take part in the
parliamentary business throughout
the year. These lawmakers belonged
to seven parliamentary parties and
their majority (106) was from ruling
party PML-N. Similarly, five
lawmakers of PTI, three of PML, two
of PPPP and one each of PML-Z and
BNA-P ANP and one independent
member remained inactive.
The female lawmakers
outperformed their male colleagues
in this area. Nearly three quarters of
females (56 out of total 76) took part
in the proceedings against 67% male
parliamentarians participating in the
business. Furthermore, seven out of
eight minority members also
contributed to the proceedings.
The Assembly began its third year
with the Budget Session which
continued for 13 sittings. As many
as 133 lawmakers, including 38
female members, debated the
budgetary proposals for 23 hours
and 20 minutes in 10 sittings. The
lawmakers belonging to the treasury
party PML-N consumed 53% time of
the discussion while the largest
Opposition party PTI took 29% share
of the discussion. Each of PPPP and
PML consumed six percent of the
Budget Session
200present
Maximum Members(Average)
49present
Members at End(Average)
26present
Members at Outset(Average)
4Break Time
Hrs & 29 Min
PARLIAMENTARY LEADERS ATTENDANCE
Ghulam Murtaza
PML-Z
Bilal Asghar Warraich
PNML
S. Waseem Akhtar
JI
Ch Moonis Elahi
PML
Sardar Shahab-ud-Din
PPPP
S. Iftikhar Gillani
BNAP
41/7539/75 6/75
0/750/75 0/75
KEY MEMBERS ATTENDANCE
SPEAKER DEPUTY SPEAKER CHIEF MINISTER LEADER OF OPPOSITION
Rana Muhammad Iqbal Sardar Sher Ali Gorchani Mian Shahbaz Sharif Mian Mehmood-ur-Rashid
61/75 52/75 4/75 64/75Presiding Time (hh:mm) Presiding Time (hh:mm) Attended Time (hh:mm) Attended Time (hh:mm)
124:00 64:35 2:36 80:59
HIGHLIGHTS
discussion's time, JI four percent
and PML-Z and Independents one
percent each. The male lawmakers
consumed 80% of discussion's time
while their female counterparts took
20%.
The Government presented 43
Demands for Grants for 2015-16
and 40 Supplementary Demands for
Grants for 2014-15. The lawmakers
submitted 10 cut motions on these
demands, however, all were rejected.
The legislative agenda brought
before the Punjab Assembly during
third parliamentary year comprised
64 bills. The House passed 46 of
these bills into Acts while 15 bills
were still under consideration by the
end of the year and four were not
taken up by the House. More than
two thirds of these bills were
originally promulgated as
ordinances and later presented
before the Assembly. The legislation
addressed the matters related to
education, economy, law & order,
local government, women welfare,
institutional reforms and
governance.
Economy: Apart from the Finance
Bill, 2015, the House, through an Act,
levied Infrastructure Development
Cess on transportation of goods.
Two laws were passed to improve
the stamp duty and revenue
collection mechanisms.
The Assembly chartered
three new universities to be
established in the province while
seven existing statutes dealing with
education were amended.
Stricter punishments
were introduced for persons selling
adulterated and substandard food in
contravention of the laws. The
Legislation
Education:
Governance:
Punjab Food Regulatory Authority
was also empowered to impose
fines on food outlets not complying
with the standards. The slaughter
control law was amended to
rationalize the penalties on violation
of the law while the marriage
functions law was amended to
provide for prohibition of
ostentatious celebrations. The
House passed four bills concerning
transport affairs that included
overloading of vehicles and
overcharging of fares, making
provisions for personalized vanity
plates and regulation of vehicle
transaction agents.
The Drugs Act 1976 was
amended to enable the law to
control the menace of spurious
drugs. Moreover, the criteria for the
appointment of Vice Chancellor of
Fatima Jinnah Medical University
were revised and the age limit for
the post was enhanced.
Public Representatives' Salaries:
The emoluments which public
representatives are entitled to
withdraw were increased through a
bill.
Four
amendments to the local
government law were approved to
empower local governments to
designate landfill sites, make
provisions for the indirect elections
and proportional representation on
reserved seats in a Union Council,
and the representation of local
governments in Punjab Finance
Commission.
Two
amendments to the Forest Act, 1927
were passed to provide for
establishment of Forest Companies
and utilization of forest land for
national projects of strategic
importance. The Canal and Drainage
Health:
Local Government:
Forest and Agriculture:
52Dy. SpeakerAttended
Sittings andpresided over 33%
Proceedings
4Chief Minister
Attended
Sittings and1% Proceedings
64Sittings and
41% Proceedings
Leader of theOpposition
SpeakerAttended
Sittings andpresided over 63%
Proceedings
61
HIGHLIGHTS
Act 1873 was also upgraded to have
an effective water charges recovery
mechanism. A new law was passed
to regulate the construction in the
flood plain areas of the province.
The establishment of Special
Protection Unit and District
Vigilance Committees was also
approved by the Assembly.
A law
was passed to provide extended
antenatal and postnatal care to
working mothers while the
Protection of Women against
Violence Bill was also cleared by the
Assembly after nine months of
deliberations.
Five corporate bodies
namely the Punjab Mass Transit
Authority, the Punjab Safe Cities
Authority, the Fort Monroe
Development Authority, the Punjab
Infrastructure Development
Authority and the Punjab
Agriculture, Food and Drug Authority
were created through statues while
the laws of the Punjab Procurement
Authority, the Punjab Commission
on Status of Women and Forensic
Sciences Agency were amended.
The Punjab Assembly adopted 59
resolutions during third
parliamentary year. Besides these,
five Private Members' resolutions
were kept pending, thirteen were
disposed of due to absence of the
relevant lawmakers and five were
not taken up by the House.
As many as 34 of the adopted
resolutions were sponsored by
Private Members while 25 were
backed by treasury, including 17
resolutions which sought extension
in the term of ordinances. The
resolutions passed by the House
Women-related Legislation:
Institutional Development and
Reforms:
Resolutions
can be categorized as following:
Five of the
Government resolutions paid
tributes to the federal government
for its various services and the
Provincial Home Minister Col. (R)
Shuja Khanzada and MPA Chaudhry
Muhammad Shamshad, both of
whom were killed in separate
attacks. The federal government
was commended for its efforts to
overcome energy crisis, reduction in
petroleum prices and announcement
to form judicial commission for
Panama Papers' probe.
The House passed
nine resolutions to condemn various
events like incidents of terrorism,
violence or statements of
politicians. The condemnations
were made against terrorist attacks
on Bacha Khan University,
Charsadda and Gulshan-e-Iqbal
Park, Lahore, incident of burning a
girl alive in Abbotabad, hangings of
Jamat-e-Islami leadership in
Bangladesh, attacks on media,
Indian aggression on Working
Boundary, killings of Rohingya
Muslims and statements of Indian
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
regarding disintegration of Pakistan
and Wajid Shamsul Hassan
regarding Constitutional
Amendment to declare Ahmadis
Non-Muslims.
The
House adopted 17 resolutions to
extend the terms of as many
ordinances under Article 128 of the
Constitution.
The House
passed 27 resolutions having
specific recommendations for the
federal and Punjab governments on
different issues ranging from action
against illegal medical stores to
setting up a hill station in Rajanpur.
Commendation:
Condemnation:
Constitutional Resolutions:
Recommendations:
1Private MemberBill Introduced
46GovernmentBills Passed
15Government
Bills Introduced
59ResolutionsAdopted
HIGHLIGHTS
Fourteen resolutions were
sponsored by PTI, 10 by PML-N, two
by JI and one by PML.
The PTI lawmakers sought relief
package for farmers affected by
rains, inquiry of allegations against
MQM leader Altaf Hussain, equal
treatments for civilian and military
victims of terrorism, regulation of
meat prices and private school fees,
security arrangements for
educational institutions, provision of
angiography facilities in each
district, naming December 16 after
martyrs of Army Public School,
removal of illegal signboards,
provision of clean drinking water to
public, action against producers and
sellers of adulterated milk and illegal
medical stores, reconstitution of
Pakistan Cricket Board and
enforcement of ban on smuggling
from India.
The PML-N lawmakers demanded
development of hill station at Mari
Gorchani in District Rajanpur,
naming a road after Maharaja
Ranjeet Singh, appointment of
female staff at NADRA for taking
photographs of female applicants,
issuance of postal ticket on birthday
of Guru Nanak Dev, provision of free
medicines for hepatitis in Districts
Rajanpur and Dera Ghazi Khan,
regulation of private Hajj operators,
ban on dramatization of crime
scenes on televisions, provision of
technical education for women,
promotion of soft image of the
country and inclusion of content on
protection against child abuse in the
syllabi.
The JI lawmakers sought
compensation for flood-affectees of
South Punjab and legislation to curb
fake cases and FIRs. The PML
resolution recommended banning
the use of steroids for body building.
Presentation of Reports
Question Hour
The government laid 18 documents
before the House during the
reporting period. These included 14
Audit Reports, Financial Statement
for 2008-09, Schedules of
Authorized Expenditure and the
Annual Report of Technical
Education and Vocational Training
Authority (TEVTA) for 2012-13.
Moreover, the standing committees
of the House presented 48 reports
before the Assembly. Forty-four
among them were on legislative
proposals while four on privilege
motions referred to the committee
by the House.
The House also granted extensions
in presentation of 45 committee
reports. Interestingly, five reports
were granted extensions more than
one time during the parliamentary
year.
The first hour of every sitting of the
Punjab Assembly is reserved for
asking questions from the
government. A total of 1,832
questions, including 1308 starred,
appeared on the agenda during the
year. Each starred question is
required to be answered in writing
as well as orally. However, only 38%
of these (500) were taken up and
answered orally on floor of the
House. The lawmakers asked 1,143
supplementary questions to gain
further clarity. Moreover, the
government failed to answer 120
questions, including 52 starred, by
the close of third parliamentary year.
The questions were addressed to 36
different ministries and
departments. The Ministry of Health
received more questions (287) than
any other government ministry or
department. It was followed by
48Committee
ReportsPresented
18Government
Documents Laid
24Amendments
Adopted
1,832Questions
Asked
HIGHLIGHTS
Ministries of Housing, Urban
Development & Public Health, Local
Government & Community
Development, Home and School
Education, which received 181, 145,
109 and 100 questions respectively.
Less than half of the 76 female
lawmakers (35) used their right to
ask questions from Executive while
of 295 male lawmakers only 95
submitted questions. The male
lawmakers asked 70% questions
(1,276) against the 30% (556) asked
by females.
The House approved 24
amendments to the Rules of
Procedure of the Provincial
Assembly of the Punjab 1997 during
the reporting period. Through these
amendments, new Rules were
introduced which provided for the
procedure for the ascertainment of
the Leader of the Opposition, the
Annual Calendar and Sittings of the
Assembly, Zero Hour, Decision and
Rulings of the Speaker and the
elections of the Standing
Committees and their chairpersons.
The changes were also made to the
Rules concerning the Privilege
Motions, Calling Attention Notices,
Adjournment Motions, consideration
of the bills, reconsideration of the
bills if returned by the Governor,
notice period, voting and
transmission of resolutions,
expunction of words from the
proceedings, and the definition and
usage of Assembly Chamber.
The lawmakers can draw the
attention of the Chief Minister
towards law and order issues
through Calling Attention Notices
Amendments to Rules of
Procedure
Calling Attention Notices
(CANs). The House took up 41
Calling Attention Notices during the
parliamentary year. Thirty-seven of
these CANs were disposed of after
the treasury's response while four
were still pending by the close of the
year. Through these CANs, the
lawmakers highlighted the incidents
of murder, theft and aerial firing.
PTI sponsored 14 CANs which was
followed by PML-N (12), PML (6),
PPPP, JI and Independents (three
each). Among these, 32 CANs were
sponsored by male and nine by
female lawmakers.
The lawmakers extensively used the
tool of Adjournment Motions to
highlight the issues of public
importance in the House. As many
as 202 Adjournment Motions were
submitted throughout the year.
However, only one motion was
admitted for discussion and even
that never took place. Nearly three
quarters (150) of AMs were
disposed of after the response from
the government while 45 were kept
pending by the end of the year.
Moreover, six motions were referred
to the committees for further
deliberations on the related matters.
The lawmakers belonging to
majority party PML-N submitted 72
motions, followed by PML (64), PTI
(43), PPPP (9) and JI (7). The
Independent and PNM-L lawmakers
also sponsored two and one
Adjournment Motions respectively.
The lawmakers moved 26 Questions
of Privileges during third
parliamentary year. Two of them
were disposed of following the
government's reply while the
remaining 24 were referred to
Adjournment Motions
Privilege Motions
CANs Taken Up
41
Adjournment Motions
202
Questions ofPrivilege
26
Points of Order
573
relevant standing committee for
further consideration. Except five
Questions which were related to the
Business of the House, all Questions
of Privileges were complaints
against various government officers
for alleged misbehavior with the
lawmakers.
The PML-N lawmakers were main
complainant of the breach of
privilege as they moved 14
Questions followed by PTI (six),
PPPP and Independents (two each),
PML and PNML (one each).
The lawmakers raised 573 Points of
Order (POs) to speak on various
issues that consumed 715 minutes
(6%) of the total duration of the
session. A total of 84 members,
including 14 female lawmakers,
expressed their views on POs.
Majority of the members raising POs
(57) belonged to PML-N followed by
PTI (15), PPPP (3), PML (2),
Independents (2), JI and PNM-L
(one each). PML-N lawmakers
raised 343 POs, PTI 163, JI 22, PPPP
21, PML 15, Independents eight and
PNM-L one. The members generally
discussed political developments,
international events, governance
issues and matters concerning the
affairs of federation.
According to the Rules of Procedure
and Conduct of Business, a point of
order can be raised exclusively to
indicate any violation in conduct of
business of the House. However,
following an amendment to the
Rules during third parliamentary
year, the Chair can allot the last half
an hour of any sitting to be known
as Zero Hour, to raise a matter which
is not a Point of Order. Still, the
practice to discuss matters of public
importance on Points of Order was
observed in the Punjab Assembly.
Points of Order
Zero Hour
Protests, Walkouts and
Boycotts
Since the provision of Zero Hour was
made in the Rules of Procedure, the
lawmakers submitted 20 notices on
matters of public importance
ranging from school fees to the
difficulties faced by farmers. Nine of
these notices were disposed of after
the government's explanation; eight
were pending while three were
referred to relevant standing
committees for further
investigations. Majority of issues
(15) were raised by PML-N
lawmakers PPPP and PTI also
highlighted three and two issues
respectively.
The House witnessed 44 instances
of walkout, protest or boycott during
third parliamentary year. The
protesting parties spent 749
minutes out of the House to record
their concerns on various issues
while the on-floor protests
consumed 183 minutes.
Most of the times, the Opposition
parties jointly or individually
registered their protest against the
government policies or the Business
of the House. However, on three
occasions the lawmakers belonging
to treasury party PML-N staged
protests for different reasons.
The lawmakers walked out or
protested on floor of the House on
23 occasions to record their protest
against the government policies
while 17 walkouts or protests were
instigated by their reservations
against the Chair and the Business
of the House. Four walkouts were
staged to condemn the remarks by
government functionaries or
lawmakers on floor of the House.
HIGHLIGHTS
Minutes consumedby POs
715
Matters of Public Importance
20
Protests, Walkouts or Boycott
44
Quorum
31
Quorum
The lawmakers drew attention of the
Chair towards quorum (25% of the
total membership) on 31 occasions.
It was found complete four times on
first headcount and eight times on
second headcount conducted after
ringing the division bells for five
minutes. On four occasions, the
proceedings had to be suspended
for five to 40 minutes to wait for the
completion of quorum. Fifteen
sittings had to be adjourned
prematurely due to lack of quorum.
The PTI lawmakers pointed out
quorum 26 times, PPPP three times
and an Independent lawmaker two
times.
This report is based on direct
observation of the proceedings of the
Punjab Assembly conducted by PATTAN
Development Organization – a member
organization of FAFEN. Every effort has
been made to keep this report, which
deals with on-floor performance of the
Members, accurate and comprehensive.
Errors and omissions are excepted.
371295*
66
8Elected Reserve for Women Minority
* Three seats are vacant.
JIPML PNMLINDPPPPPTI
BNAPPML-N PML-Z
Opposition Alliance1310 3
19 1831 5
293 76
Gender-Wise breakdown
CURRENT COMPOSITION OF ASSEMBLY
MEMBERS TO POPULATION RATIO
279,673Population per Representative
TOTAL POPULATION
103,758,542
Population estimates as on 30 June, 2015
PARLIAMENTARY PARTIES – GOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION ALLIANCES
Government Alliances
ABOUT FAFEN
Free and Fair Election Networkwww.fafen.org
www.openparliament.pk I www.parliamentfiles.com
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