MPAs approve own leave applications for last session

PESHAWAR: A number of lawmakers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday approved their own leave applications which they had submitted for the last sitting when Speaker Asad Qaiser presented these for approval before the House.
The assembly session was adjourned on Friday last before completing the agenda when a dissident member from the treasury benches pointed out the lack of quorum. The Speaker had yet to get the leave applications approved from the House when the session had to be adjourned.
As the current sitting has proved the longest ever session in the history of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, the presence of members remained thin in the House during the last several weeks. The session was adjourned twice recently due to lack of quorum.
“It is not legally incorrect when the Speaker approves leave for applications on another day,” argued the provincial assembly Secretary Amanullah Khan. However, an MPA from the opposition benches termed it ridiculous when a member approves his own leave application while sitting in the House.
The KP Assembly has been in session since October 23, 2014. According to an official of the Assembly Secretariat, the members had been paid Rs4.6 million as allowances for the current session.
Apart from monthly salary and other perks and privileges, an MPA gets Rs1,640 per day as special allowance when the assembly is in session. The MPA is entitled to the same amount even when the session is adjourned for not more than two days.
Likewise, the employees of the provincial assembly get allowances when the House is in session.The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly in March 2014 unanimously approved legislation after which the monthly salary of an MPA was increased from Rs36,000 to Rs92,800 while the travel allowance was raised from Rs40,000 to Rs1,20, 000 per annum.
Despite receiving many perks and privileges, the interest of the honourable lawmakers in the proceedings could be gauged from the fact that Speaker Asad Qaiser had to request them time and again to be serious about the assembly business. “I will keep the assembly business short but kindly be serious and maintain decorum,” remarked Asad Qaiser on Monday.
One of the reasons behind the lengthy assembly session is the differences within the ranks of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) over the choice of the deputy speaker.It has been lying vacant for six months after Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi resigned as Deputy Speaker and took oath as minister for law and parliamentary affairs.
Under the rules, the Speaker has to announce and elect Deputy Speaker during the current session but due to the alleged differences in the PTI and a possible revolt by some MPAs, the session has been unusually prolonged.