LAHORE: The incumbent Punjab Assembly held 23 sessions during its three parliamentary years (April 9, 2008 to April 8, 2011) and passed 53 bills, besides seeing making and breaking of various alliances and turning of friends into foes and the vice versa.A study of the performance of the Punjab Assembly’s three-year performance reveals that it held sessions 23 times, in total, in three parliamentary years and the duration of these sessions was 252 days and the working days were, however, 186. A detailed performance sheet of the legislature is being produced here.Sessions: The Punjab Assembly held its maximum sessions, twelve in number, in its first parliamentary year that continued for 80 functional days, out of those 61 were the working days while in the second parliamentary year it held only five sessions extending to 71 days, out of those only 53 were the working days.In the third parliamentary year, the legislature had to meet for at least 100 days as the passage of 18th Amendment in the constitution by the National Assembly enhanced the duration of provincial legislatures from 70 mandatory days to 100.
To meet this constitutional requirement, the assembly held six sessions spreading over 101 days but the working days were only 72.Government Legislation: The legislation is the prime duty of a legislature and the Punjab Assembly came up to the expectations of the constituents in its third parliamentary year (2010-11) when it passed 28 bills out of a total of 37 bills presented in the House. As many as 21 bills were, however, pending before different standing committees at the end of that year.In its second parliamentary year, the legislature passed 19 bills and two were withdrawn, while the number of pending bills with the standing committees at the end of the year was 12. The first parliamentary year shows very poor performance as the assembly passed only six bills out of twelve presented in the House.Three bills were withdrawn by the government while the other three were pending with the standing committees at the end of year. A total of the three years legislation done by Punjab Assembly shows that the government presented 79 bills and got passed 53 bills, while five were withdrawn and 21 were pending in the concerned standing committees.Private Members’ Legislation: The legislation initiated by the members belonging to both the sides of the political divide in the House—treasury and the opposition— in their private capacity in these three is a total 45 bills.
The assembly’s secretariat accepted 22 private bills for further proceedings and sent to the House. The House, after proceedings on these 22 bills, rejected 16 while the remaining six are still pending before it. The maximum number of bills presented by the legislators in private capacity was in its first year, as 26 bills were introduced and 15 were accepted for further proceedings.The House, after further proceedings, rejected 10 as ab initio and the remaining five were sent to concerned standing committees.In its second parliamentary year, the members brought 15 bills and the assembly’s secretariat accepted only five private bills for further proceedings and the House, after proceedings, rejected all those five bills, while in the third parliamentary year only four bills were submitted by the members and the assembly’s secretariat accepted only two bills for further proceedings and sent to the House.The House, after proceedings on these two bills, rejected one while the other was sent to the standing committee for further deliberations.Questions: The legislators gauge the performance of government departments by asking questions in ‘Question Hour’. The Punjab legislators submitted 9,189 notices in three parliamentary years and the assembly’s secretariat admitted 7,685 questions to include in agenda, while 1,504 were disallowed to be taken up.
The ministers concerned answered up to 4,265 questions in the House. The year-wise performance is: First year (April 9, 2008 to April 8, 2009) notices: 3,371, admitted (as per rules): 2,867, disallowed: 504, answered by the government: 1,031. second year (April 9, 2009 to April 8, 2010) notices: 3452, admitted (as per rules): 2834, disallowed: 618, answered by the government: 1,477, third year (April 9, 2010 to April 8, 2011) notices: 2,366, Admitted (as per rules): 1,984, disallowed: 1,504, answered by the government: 1,757.Call attention notices: In the assembly rules, the chief minister himself is supposed to answer the call attention notices submitted by the legislators but never a chief minister bothered to perform this duty in the House and law ministers always replied to this agenda item.The detail of call attention notices in three years is: Notices: 712, Admitted (as per rules): 411, Disallowed: 51, Answered by the government: 60The year- wise performance is: first year (April 9, 2008 to April 8, 2009) Notices: 198, Admitted (as per rules): 115, Disallowed: 83, Answered by the government: 25. Second year (April 9, 2009 to April 8, 2010) Notices: 206, Admitted (as per rules): 121, Disallowed: 85, Answered by the government: 14, Third year (April 9, 2010 to April 8, 2011) Notices: 308, Admitted (as per rules): 175, Disallowed: 133, Answered by the government: 80.
Privilege Motions: The detail of privilege motions moved by the legislators in three years is as under: Notices: 338, Admitted (as per rules): 188, Disallowed: 150, Referred to Committee: 77 Disposed off/ Lapsed/ Pended: 111The year-wise performance is: First year (April 9, 2008 to April 8, 2009) notices: 99, admitted (as per rules): 73, disallowed: 26, referred to committee: 21 disposed off/ lapsed/ pended: 52. second year (April 9, 2009 to April 8, 2010) notices: 170, admitted (as per rules): 69, disallowed: 101, referred to committee: 29 disposed off/ lapsed/ pended: 40, third year (April 9, 2010 to April 8, 2011) notices: 69, admitted (as per rules): 46, disallowed: 23, referred to committee: 27 disposed off/ lapsed/ pended: 19.Adjournment Motions: The detail of adjournment motions moved by the legislators in three years is as under: Notices: 3825, Admitted (as per rules): 1367, Disallowed: 2458, Disposed off: 474, Lapsed/ Pended: 893.
The year wise performance is: First year (April 9, 2008 to April 8, 2009) Notices: 1,243, Admitted (as per rules): 484, Disallowed: 759, Disposed off: 104, Lapsed/ Pended: 380.First year (April 9, 2008 to April 8, 2009) Notices: 1,093, Admitted (as per rules): 432, Disallowed: 661, Disposed off: 111, Lapsed/ Pended: 321. Third year (April 9, 2010 to April 8, 2011 Notices: 1,489, Admitted (as per rules): 451, Disallowed: 1,038, Disposed off: 259, Lapsed/ Pended: 192.Resolutions: The detail of resolutions of public interest submitted by Punjab legislators in three years is as below: Notices: 2,126, Admitted (as per rules): 1376, Disallowed: 750, Passed: 118, Disposed off/ Pended/ Lapsed: 1,258.The year wise detail is: First year (April 9, 2008 to April 8, 2009) Notices: 742, Admitted (as per rules): 524, Disallowed: 218, Passed: 40, disposed off/ pended/ Lapsed: 1258. Second year (April 9, 2009 to April 8, 2010) Notices: 722, Admitted (as per rules): 471, Disallowed: 251, Passed: 44, Disposed off/ Pended/ Lapsed: 427. Third year (April 9, 2010 to April 8, 2011) Notices: 662, Admitted (as per rules): 1376, Disallowed: 750, Passed: 34, Disposed off/ Pended/ Lapsed: 347. This is what the Punjab current legislature has performed in its three years’ period. – dailytimes
