Sedate Performance of Punjab Assembly in 2020
Most of the standing committees of the Punjab Assembly remained inactive in 2020
The Provincial Assembly of the Punjab Province of Pakistan continued to be a fish market in the year 2020 and their performance wasn’t up to mark. This year did not prove to be good in terms of legislation as many standing committees could not come into shape. The standing committees that were formed could not be activated due to which the legislative affairs were impacted. The government and the opposition had a faceoff in the sessions conducted in 2020.
In the year 2020, only nine sessions of the Punjab Assembly were held.
The most important thing was the budget session for the fiscal year 2020-21 which was convened in a local hotel instead of the Punjab Assembly due to coronavirus precautionary measures.
For the first time in history, the budget session was conducted at a place other than assembly and the fiscal document was approved there.
The whole year was overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic due to which the sessions were also limited.
At the same time, media access in the Punjab assembly was also limited. In the same year, the construction of a beautiful mosque in the premises of the Punjab Assembly was also completed.
Review of meetings and bills in 2020
In the year 2020, the assembly sessions were held intermittently only for a total of 157 days. Of them, only 51 were working days while 52 days were declared off due to the pandemic situation.
On the other hand, in the year 2020, only 19 bills including the Punjab Tahaffuz-e-Bunyad-e-
Resolutions for the year 2020
A total of 21 resolutions were passed by the Punjab Assembly in the year 2020 including those in favor of Kashmiri’s independence movement as well as unanimous resolutions against blasphemy at the official level in France.
In the outgoing year, more than 300 adjournment motions were moved in the assembly.
However, the lawmakers had to wait a long time for a response.
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Status of Standing Committees
Of 41 standing committees of the Punjab Assembly, the chairpersons of only 22 could be elected and many of them could not convene a single meeting.
The government also violated the law by forming special committees instead of using standing committees allegedly to cover up its failures.
Government and opposition faceoff
The boycott of the standing committees continued this year as the opposition did not make Hamza Shahbaz Sharif who is the leader of the opposition, chairman of the provincial public accounts committee (PAC).
The government had approved the formation of a third PAC to audit the local government audit business, but it could not be finished.
Ensuing, the audit remained stagnant.
Decisive role of independent MPs in Gilgit-Baltistan
The government formed 13 special committees to approve bills which is against the law in the presence of standing committees.
This year too, the opposition continued to stage a protest and raise slogans against each other inside and outside the house in favor of their demands.
The year-long confrontation between the government and the opposition did not stop.
Last session of 2020
The last session was held by the Punjab Assembly in the second week of December. But in this session, the opposition kept protesting against the government and created hurdles to stop the proceeding.
Due to this, the government had to postpone its own session indefinitely.
The performance of the Punjab Assembly did not remain up to the mark as the coronavirus situation created an impasse.
