LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly on Wednesday adopted a resolution against the federal government for what it said halting Rs176 billion funds and not allowing the province to import wheat.

The House also condemned the arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Senator Azam Swati by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) over a social media post, allegedly maligning the army chief.

Meanwhile, it passed five bills, including the Punjab Ehsaas Programme bill, without sending it to the relevant standing committee, apparently in violation of the parliamentary norms.

When the House met for the 18th time during the 41st session, going on for more than the last four months, food minister Husnain Bahadur Dreshak moved the resolution that alleged the federal government blocked at least Rs176bn funds it owed to Punjab under various heads.

It also lamented that the federal government was neither supplying wheat to Punjab from its stock, nor allowing the provincial government to import the grain on its own.

The minister claimed the federal authorities had also not offered any aid to Punjab for the flood-affected people.

Communications minister Ali Afzal Sahi moved another resolution that condemned the arrest of Senator Swati. Alleging that the senator was subjected to the worst kind of torture, it said the House condemns the arrest allegedly made at the behest of the ‘imported’ (PDM) government.

The resolution was adopted by the House despite the Opposition MPA Khalil Tahir Sandhu pointing out that Mr Swati’s tweet was in violation of the Constitution.

The House also passed five bills, including Punjab Ehsaas Programme Bill, 2022. The bill was introduced, immediately considered and passed. Interestingly, it was not sent to the relevant standing committee, against the tradition and parliamentary procedure.

Speaker Sibtain Khan suspended rules 93, 94, 95 and 234 of the Rules of Procedure to pave the way for passage of the bill the same day without following any formal procedure.

Mr Sandhu objected to the chair’s act, arguing the rules could be suspended only in emergency cases. He said the step was also in violation of a ruling given by former speaker Parvez Elahi when minister Raja Basharat had sought a similar exception for the passage of a bill during Covid-19 pandemic days.

The House also reconsidered the Punjab Local Government (Amendment) Bill-2021, Punjab Occupational Safety & Health (Amendment) Bill-2020, Punjab Seed Corporation (Amendment) Bill-2022, Punjab Factories (Amendment) Bill-2022, and Punjab Forests (Amendment) Bill-2022, passing these again in a hurry apparently to override the governor’s objections to the pieces of legislation passed earlier.

The local government law amendment enhances the population size of both the urban and rural union councils from 16,000 to 25,000. It also says that employees in the local government service shall be liable to serve anywhere in the province for the purpose of the Act, while those appointed on contract basis through the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) shall stand regularised on the completion of their contract period.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2022