Chapter I - INTRODUCTORY

1. Short title and commencement.– (1) These rules may be called the Rules of Procedure of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab 1997.

(2) They shall come into force at once.

2. Definitions.– (1) In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires–

(a) "Amendment" means a motion to amend an earlier motion before that earlier motion is put to the Assembly for decision;

(b) "Assembly" means the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab;

(c) "Auditor-General" means the Auditor General of Pakistan appointed under Article 168 of the Constitution;

(d) "Bill" means a motion for making a law;

(e) "Budget" means the Annual Budget Statement within the meaning of Article 120 of the Constitution;

[1][(f) "Chamber" means the place where the Assembly meets to transact its business and notified by the Speaker as the Chamber;]

(g) "Committee" means a Committee constituted under these rules;

(h) "Constitution" means the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan;

(i) "Gazette" means the Punjab Gazette;

(j) "Government" means Government of the Punjab;

(k) "Governor" means Governor of the Punjab;

(l) "House" means the Assembly;

(m) "Leader of the House" means the Chief Minister or a member designated by the Chief Minister to represent Government and regulate Government business in the Assembly;

[2][(n) "Leader of Opposition" means a member declared as Leader of Opposition by the Speaker under Chapter IV-A;]

(o) "Lobby" means the covered corridor immediately adjoining the Chamber and coterminous with it;

(p) "Member" means a member of the Assembly, and for purposes of moving or opposing a Bill, an amendment, a motion or a resolution, includes a Minister;

(q) "Member-in-Charge" means, in the case of Government Bill, a Minister or a Parliamentary Secretary acting on behalf of the Government, and in the case of a private member's Bill, the member who has introduced it or any other member authorised by him in writing to assume charge of the Bill in his absence;

(r) "Minister" includes the Chief Minister;

(s) "Mover" means the mover of a Bill, a resolution, a motion or an amendment of a Bill, a resolution or a motion and in the case of a Government Bill, a resolution, a motion or an amendment, a Minister or a Parliamentary Secretary acting on behalf of the Government;

(t) "Motion" means a proposal made by a member relating to any matter which may be discussed by the Assembly;

(u) "Precincts of the Assembly" means the Assembly Chamber's building, courtyard and gardens, Committee rooms appurtenant thereto, and includes the hall, members' lobbies, galleries, rooms of the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker, the Ministers and other offices of the Government located in the Assembly Building, and the offices of the Assembly Secretariat and any other premises which are notified as such for a specified time by the Speaker in the Gazette;

(v) "Presiding Officer", in relation to a sitting of the Assembly, means any person who is presiding at that sitting;

[3][(w) "Private Member" means a member who is not a Minister, an Advisor, a Special Assistant or a Parliamentary Secretary;]

(x) "Resolution" means a motion for the purpose of discussing and expressing opinion on a matter of general public interest and includes a resolution specified in the Constitution;

(y) "Schedule" means a Schedule appended to these rules;

(z) "Secretary" means Secretary of the Assembly and includes any person for the time being performing the duties of the Secretary;

(aa) "Session" means the period commencing on the day of the first sitting of the Assembly after having been summoned and ending on the day the Assembly is prorogued or dissolved;

(bb) "Supplementary Budget" means a consolidated statement, to be known as the Supplementary Budget Statement, laid before the Assembly under Article 124 of the Constitution;

(cc) "Sitting" means a meeting of the Assembly or that of a Committee on a day;

(dd) "Speaker" means the Speaker of the Assembly and includes the Deputy Speaker and a person for the time being acting as Speaker under the Constitution;

(ee) "Starred question" means a question for an oral answer;

(ff) "Table" means the Table of the House; and

(gg) "Unstarred question" means a question for a written answer.

(2) Words and expressions used but not defined in these rules but defined in the Constitution shall have the same meanings as are assigned to them in the Constitution.