PA quorum problem despite new ministers

LAHORE

Punjab Assembly Monday was adjourned after it failed to meet quorum and attract the new cabinet members, majority of whom didn’t turn up to attend the proceedings. 

Due to lack of quorum, the PA couldn’t pass the Punjab Local Government (Amendment) Bill 2016 and the Punjab Local Government (Sixth Amendment) Bill 2016 and the Forman Christian College Lahore (Amendment) Bill 2016. Besides, it also had to hold general discussion on agriculture and lay the Punjab Land Records Authority and the Punjab Urban Immovable Property Tax (Amendment) Ordinances which couldn’t be done on Monday. 

Besides, the PA couldn’t introduce the Punjab Urban Immovable Property Tax (Amendment) Bill 2016.

The PA session, which already began with a delay of over two hours with Speaker Rana Mohammed Iqbal Khan in chair at the very outset, brought the Punjab government under criticism from the Opposition leader Mian Mehmood ul Rasheed who flayed the CM for calling the cabinet meeting at a time when proceedings were under way. He said already the PA session had started with a delay and now the cabinet meeting was in progress which was a disgrace to the House and stated this attitude was disappointing.

This is noteworthy that the session started just half an hour before the Maghrib prayers, and during the rest of question hour which restarted after the Namaz break, Asif Mehmood, an Opposition member pointed out the quorum. Rana Arshad, who is also the special assistant of the CM on the occasion criticised the PTI MPA for pointing out quorum during the question hour session but the Opposition MPA replied it was treasury’s job to ensure attendance of legislators.

The speaker on the occasion adjourned the session for fifteen minutes but the treasury was unable to meet the quorum after it met again and the chair, with a note of disappointment announced adjournment of PA till Tuesday. Mian Rafique, the PML-N MPA from Toba Tek Singh on the occasion, stated the new cabinet members should remain present during the proceedings. At the time when quorum was pointed out, only two new ministers including Ejaz Ahmed Achlana and Zaeem Hussein Qadri were present whereas the rest including Jehangir Khanzada, Sheikh Alla ud Din, Raza Ali Gilani, Khawaja Salman Rafique and others were absent. Amongst the old cabinet members present in the House were Rana Sana Ullah Khan, Raja Ashfaq Sarwar, DrFarrukh Javed, Khalil Tahir Sindhu, Iqbal Channar, Zakiya Shahnwaz and Sher Ali Khan.  Iqbal Channar responded the questions related to the Cooperatives Department.