PILDAT welcomes Provincial Assembly of the Punjab’s move to make Members’ Attendance Record Public

April 15, 2015

PILDAT Lauds the Punjab Assembly’s lead in Greater Transparency
Punjab Assembly has set a trend that other Assemblies Follow,
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April 15: PILDAT has welcomed the Provincial Assembly of the

Punjab taking a lead in making MPAs’ attendance record available on the Assembly

website. Terming it as a significant step towards greater transparency and public

openness, PILDAT has demanded that the other Legislatures of the country should

follow the lead of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab.

In a statement issued today PILDAT lauded the decision by the

elected leadership of the Assembly for taking the much-needed initiative. Citizens

need to know the attendance and performance of their elected representatives,

the statement says, adding that withholding of this key information by other

Legislatures violates every basic requirement of representation and of transparency.

Public availability of legislative attendance records of legislators will help

the country adopt global standards of Parliamentary openness and transparency.

PILDAT, which has been advocating for greater transparency

in the Parliament for years, has repeatedly asked the National Assembly of Pakistan

to provide the attendance records of individual members publicly, finally invoking

the Freedom of Information Ordinance, 2002, upon the Secretariat’s refusal to

provide attendance records. PILDAT appealed to the Wafaqi Mohtasib (Federal

Ombudsman), which upheld PILDAT’s point of view to provide the requested attendance

records. The National Assembly chose to file an appeal against the verdict and

the case is pending with the President of Pakistan for the past many months.

PILDAT hopes that the Honourable President would decide in favour of greater

transparency, especially in light of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab’s

decision to publicly provide attendance record of its members.