Opposition members accuses govt of disbursing funds in violation of SC ruling. PHOTO: INP
Treasury and opposition lawmakers engaged in a heated debate on Friday following the chair’s refusal to let the leader of the opposition move a privilege motion about alleged disbursement of development funds among treasury members in violation of a Supreme Court ruling.
The debate ended with a 10-minute walk out by opposition members to protest what they called pre-poll rigging.
The motion submitted to the Assembly Secretariat on Thursday had alleged that the government had disbursed around Rs7 billion amongst treasury members to fund development schemes in their constituencies. It said that the opposition members were given no funds for their constituencies.
Deputy Speaker Sher Ali Gorchani dismissed the motion saying it did not comply with the House rules. He also said funds for development projects could not be released to any member.
He said in accordance with the Supreme Court ruling in the matter, lawmakers could only propose development schemes in their constituencies to the government. He said the government funded projects identified by them on its own. Lack of disbursement of funds did not amount to a breach of lawmakers’ privilege, he held.
If the motion was not maintainable why was it accepted by the secretariat, Rasheed asked. He said on Thursday he had been asked by the chair to hold on to the motion for one day.
During the debate on Friday, opposition member Sardar Shahabud Din said that the government was disbursing funds for constituencies of opposition members to people who contested 2013 election against them on a Pakistan Muslims League-Nawaz (PML-N) ticket. He alleged that the PML-N candidate who lost election to him had received a Rs25 million grant to fund schemes in the area.
Parliamentary Secretary for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Nazar Gondal dismissed the allegation. He said that funds for development schemes could not be distributed among legislators following the SC judgment.
Later, the House resumed (from Thursday) discussion on annual reports of the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) and the Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (TEVTA). Both treasury and opposition benches agreed that regional level public service commissions be established to improve representation of southern districts in the provincial bureaucracy. The speaker suggested that a resolution be drafted in this regard and moved during the next session. Sibtain Khan sought recruitment through competitive exams given at regional level. He said it would ensure equal opportunity to secure a government job for candidates in a particular region.
Cooperatives Minister Muhammad Iqbal Channar proposed a 40 per cent quota for south Punjab in all government jobs.
The question hour was postponed as the health secretary was not present to take questions about the department. Parliamentary Secretary for Healh Khawaja Imran Nazeer said he had had to leave for Rawalpindi to oversee anti-dengue fever campaign in the city.
The session was adjourned till Monday afternoon.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 5th, 2015.
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