Punjab Assembly: Local govt bill debate delayed over quorum

A PPP lawmaker said effort should be made to start sessions on time

LAHORE: Monday’s session of the Punjab Assembly ended without passing amendments to the Punjab Local Government Act 2013 owing to a lack of quorum. Less than 60 lawmakers were in attendance at the time (93 are needed to complete quorum.

Amendments to the local government act as well as the University of Okara Bill 2015 had been on the agenda.

Ehsan Riaz pointed out the paltry numbers, following which the speaker put the bills on hold.

Several call attention notices were put on hold on account of law minister’s.

During the question hour, Minister for Mines and Minerals Sher Ali was asked about the action taken against those involved in signing a mining contract with a ghost company.

Khan said the contract had been drawn up in December 2007. He said the court had suspended the contract in August 2010.

He said the Anti-Corruption Department had not completed investigation of the matter by the time it was taken to court.  He said later, the case was handed over to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). Amjad Ali Javed asked why names of those involved in the contract had not been revealed and no action had been taken against them.

The minister replied that the contract had not materialised.

“Since there was no transaction and the contract was suspended before it could be implemented, the NAB closed the case,” he said.

As some lawmakers insisted that the government take action against those involved, the minister said he would seek advice from the Law Department on the matter and apprise the House about it.

Points of order

Farzana Nazeer said lawmaker’s salaries should be raised. She said the matter was facing unnecessary delays.  Nazeer said though a meeting in this regard had been held with the law minister last week, the House had not been apprised of the progress.

The chair informed the House that another meeting in this regard had been delayed due to the absence of the law minister.

He said the issue would be addressed during the ongoing session. The session had started with a two-hour delay.

Pakistan Peoples Party’s Sardar Shahabud Din expressed reservations over proceedings continuously facing delays.

He urged the chair to take notice of the issue and ensure commencement of the session on time.

Deputy Speaker Sher Ali Gorchani said, “If everyone makes it on time, we will able start on time.”

Ehsan Riaz Fatyana said the traffic additional inspector general’s office had asked him to make an appointment when he had asked to meet with the officer. He claimed a breach of privilege.

The chair directed Fatyana him to submit a privilege motion which would be considered out of turn.The session was adjourned till Tuesday morning.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 8^th, 2015.