By Mohsin Bilal
LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly conducted a total of nineteen sessions during the first ten months of the assembly.
Out of 19 sittings, eight were held on requisition of the opposition while the rest were called by the government.
These 19 sittings were continued for 86 days.
Maryam Nawaz, who became the first female chief minister in the history of Pakistan on February 26 202, visited only five times to the Assembly.
Moreover, the Speaker Malik Ahmad Khan made four foreign visits and twice acted as acting governor. During this period, he suspended the membership of 16 opposition members for a certain period.
During this period, a total of 16 bills were introduced in these sessions, out of which 14 bills were approved by the House. These bills include the Defamation Bill, on which the government faced severe criticism from the media, the opposition and other stakeholders.
The second bill is a bill for a sharp increase in the salaries of assembly members, which was approved by the House. Both the government and the opposition have faced severe criticism since the approval of this bill.
Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif visited the assembly only five times. She addressed the house only twice, once after being elected as Leader of the House and again on the government’s completion of its first 100 days.
It was learned that two private bills were also passed in these nineteen sessions of the Punjab Assembly.
Other bills that were passed include the Registration (Amendment) Bill 2024, Institute of Southern Punjab Multan (Amendment) Bill 2024, Senate Hill University Bill 2024, Punjab Enforcement and Regulation Bill 2024, Punjab Clean Water Authority Bill 2024, Punjab Finance Bill 2024, Punjab Defamation Bill 2024, Provincial Assembly of Punjab Laws (Amendment) Bill 2024, Punjab Price Control of Essential Commodities Bill 2024.
In its ten-month tenure, the assembly approved 68 privilege motions were approved. 33 privilege motions were referred to the committees.
A total of 558 adjournment motions and 270 resolutions were submitted in the House. The house passed only 32 resolutions. During the ten months, 31 attention notices were answered in the house.
More than 40 committees were also formed, including three Public Accounts Committees and 36 Standing Committees.
The chairmen of these committees were also elected, and thus, after a period of time, the parliamentary accountability system of Punjab was restored.
For the first time in the history of Punjab, three Public Accounts Committees were formed. Public Accounts Committee’s number one is heading by the Opposition Leader Malik Ahmed Khan Bhachar. It meets for six days in the first ten days of every month.
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The second PAC, whose chairman is Syed Ali Haider Gilani of the Pakistan Peoples Party meets for six days in the middle ten days of every month. The third PAC , whose chairman is Ahmed Iqbal, meets for six days in the last ten days of every month.
