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

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