Punjab Assembly amends rules amidst protest

LAHORE: The Provincial Assembly of Punjab amended its Rules of Procedure on Wednesday to constitute a dedicated Public Accounts Committee for the Local Governments, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

The House met for two hours and three minutes. The sitting started at 1306 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours. The Deputy Speaker presided over the proceedings for first 45 minutes while the Speaker chaired the rest of the sitting.

The Leaders of the House and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting. As many as 10 MPAs (3%) were present at the outset and 70 (19%) at the adjournment of the sitting. The parliamentary leaders of PPPP and PRHP attended the proceedings. As many as four out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

The Minister for Law presented audit reports on five government projects carried out during the period between 2012 and 2016.

Moved by the Minister for Law, the House approved an amendment in Rule 176 of the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly, 1997 providing for constitution of a separate Public Accounts Committee for the Local Governments. The amendment was not included in the scheduled business of the sitting.

The Minister for School Education responded to six out of 21 Starred Questions while the remaining questions were not taken up. The lawmakers asked 21 supplementary questions as well.

The House deferred an Adjournment Motion (AM) of a PPPP lawmaker seeking debate on the spread of hepatitis in the country.

As many as 19 lawmakers raised Points of Order consuming 47 minutes of the proceedings.

The opposition lawmakers protested during the proceedings for five minutes against the government’s motion to consider amendment in the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure without its prior inclusion in the List of Business.

The House was adjourned to meet again on April 25, 2019 (Thursday) at 1100 hours.