KP Assembly session adjourned for lack of quorum

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly sitting was again adjourned without doing any business on Friday for lack of quorum.

Deputy Speaker Mahmood Jan, who presided over the session, had to adjourn the sitting till Monday only after taking a question and call attention notice when lack of quorum was pointed out.

He adjourned the sitting for five minutes and ordered ringing of the bells twice for two minutes each when only 19 members were present in the 145-member House. On ringing the bells, the number of the lawmakers soared to 25 and then to 29 prompting the Chair to adjourn the session till Monday.

The deputy speaker said it was disappointing that huge amount was being spent on the assembly proceedings but lawmakers were not taking it seriously. He expressed anger over the absence of government officers from the galleries and asked the assembly secretary to write a letter of displeasure to the chief secretary about them.

It is worth mentioning that Speaker Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani had a few days back asked the law minister to bring order from the governor to prorogue the session if the government was not interested in running the session.

The lack of quorum often mars the assembly proceedings as the current session that summoned on July 30 is continuing for about six months with breaks and can be prorogued only if the governor ordered so because it has been summoned on the government’s request and not requisitioned by the opposition.

Opposition lawmaker Khushdil Khan had also complained that the government was not proroguing the session so that the opposition did not find a chance to bring its business by requisitioning the session.