Lack of quorum forces speaker to adjourn Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly proceedings

The Speaker of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Friday adjourned the proceedings of the house, without taking up any single item of the agenda for debate, due to the lack of quorum. The proceedings of the house was resumed at 10:20 am, before its usual routine of 11:00 am.
But, soon after the recitation from the Holy Quraan, Qalb-e-Hassan, a PPP legislator from Kohat city, pointed out lack of quorum when only five members, including the mover, were sitting in the house. The speaker adjourned the proceedings and directed for ringing bells for two minutes. However, the strength of the legislators in the house remained the same and the chair, having no option, adjourned the proceedings for ten minutes.
On resumption of the proceedings, the same legislator once again diverted the attention of the chair towards the quorum. On counting there were found only 14 legislators in the house. This compelled the speaker to adjourned the proceedings of the house till 3:00 pm on Monday.
During the current session of the assembly, the problem of lack of quorum has been raised on several occasions, prompting the speaker to adjourn the proceedings of the house. Attendance of the members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly has remained very poor and some members visit the house after long times.
Meanwhile, talking to media, KP Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Arshad Abdullah, said that legislators had exhibited weakness in meeting the requirement of quorum. However, he said, a meeting would be held with the parliamentary leaders of the parliamentary parties in the house to ensure attendance of the members in the house in future.
He said that members prefer to remain in their constituencies on Friday while some members were also engaged in the concluding ceremony of the 31st National Games in the provincial metropolis. He said that said that the Office of the Provincial Ombudsman would become functional in the first week of January. He said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ombudsman has been given special powers as compared to the institution in other provinces of the country.
He said that the ombudsman would enjoy the powers of issuing stay order on the directives of the provincial ministers. Similarly, he can also initiate contempt proceedings in case of the non-acceptance of its decisions. He said that the ombudsman would enjoy powers to intervene in cases of corruption and take to task corrupt elements.
The law minister said that though the institution was a new experiment, but still it has been given powers and with the passage of time it would be further strengthened. He said that the institute could initiate proceedings on even a receiving a simple application by any citizen of the province. Regarding establishment of the Darul Qaza in Swat, he said that it would become operational within two weeks. He said some civil work was still in progress. However, he said, it would be notified shortly. In this connection, he said the provincial government is in close contact with the judiciary.