ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadig has not accepted a single adjournment motion in nearly three years, despite the fact that around 500 motions have been filed in this time.

Mr Sadiq`s stinginess has not passed unnoticed, with legislators alleging that he has `killed [the adjournments motions] in his chamber`, a practice termed contrary to democratic traditions. They further claim that the adjournment motions are ignored so the negligence of the federal ministers would not be highlighted.

The matter was even discussed in the Business Advisory Committee ofthe National Assembly on Monday, where an opposition member got into a heated exchange with Mr Sadiq over the issue of scrapped adjournment motions.

During the meeting, other MNAs also expressed concern over the treatment meted out to adjournment motions. The speaker then asked the secretariat to apprise him of the status of adjournment motions, PTI MNA Mohammad Sarwar Khan told Dawn.

The primary objective of an adjournment motion is to draw the attention of the house to a recent matter of public importance.

As per its definition, `a motion for the adjournment of the business of the house to discuss a matter of urgent public importance may be made with the consent of the speaker.

If accepted, the motion allows the house to set aside the day`s agenda and discuss an issue, while the relevant minister is under obligation to give a detailed presentation on the issue.

In the parliamentary year 20152016,the Senate received101adjourn-ment motions. Of these, 68 were accepted, while 26 were held to be out of order. Of the 68, 39 were admitted for a two-hour discussion, 24 were disposed off, two were referred to the standing committee and one mover did not insist on a debate.

But when Dawn approached the National Assembly to obtain information about the number of adjournment motions filed before the Speaker`s Secretariat, the relevant deputy secretary Mohammad Saleem said that the secretariat did not compile a year-wise record of adjournment motions.

He admitted, however, that lawmakers file 10 to 20 adjournment motions during every session. The deputy secretary also confirmed that not a single adjournment motion had been admitted for debate since June 2013.

The website of the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen), which maintains data on parliamentary activities, does not show adjournment motions in the National Assembly. Its website shows the record of adjournment motions tabled in the Senate and four provincial assemblies. Out of over 1,000 entries, there is only one entry of an adjournment motion tabled in the National Assembly, which was filed by PPP MNA Shazia Marri.

However, Ms Marri told Dawn her adjournment motions were never admitted. She claimed to have filed over a dozen motions, not one of which was taken up. `This is an undemocratic way of running affairs and is highly condemnable,` she said, adding, `I raised this issue with the speaker but he did not respond`.

Senator Farogh Nasim, who is also a constitutional expert, told Dawn that unlike other house business, which includes routine legislation, questions and calling-attention notices, a motion is taken up by adjourning the routinebusinessofthehousesothatitgetsthe attentionofallthose in attendance, especially mediapersons.

Generally, an adjournment motion is moved to highlight a serious flaw on the part of the government, and also known as a censure motion, which holds the government accountable for any wrongdoing, he explained.

This may be the reason why adjournment motions were not being admitted, he added.

According to one estimate, at least 500 adjournment motions have been filed with the National Assembly Secretariat.

Mohammad Saleem, however, claimed that the matters highlighted in adjournment motions had been discussed in the house through calling-attention notices. Such notices are used to draw the attention of any minister towards a particular issue, especially those of public interest.

`Some adjournment motions have been forwarded to the relevant standing committees for discussion while a few of them were converted under Rule 259, which allows members to debate a policy, emergent situation, statement or any other matter that may be taken into consid-eration,` he explained.

But his explanation does not win over everyone `There is no alternate to the adjournment motion, claims PTI`s Mohammad Sarwar Khan.

`It appears that the National Assembly speaker has imposed a sort of martial law in the lower house, as he has killed every adjournment motion.

`I have filed adjournment motions on a number of issues, including the arrest of a RAW agent, the security situation and the inefficiency of counter-terrorism departments, but none of them were admitted,` he added.

Calling this practice undemocratic, he said, `The PML-N government is running away from its responsibility.

Shafgat Mehmood, another PTI lawmaker, said the PML-N leadership wanted to run the National Assembly along the same lines as it ran the party and the government.

The speaker should exercise his discretion and not scrap all adjournment motions, as it is the privilege of MNA s to highlight import ant issues through such motions, he said.