LAHORE: The Treasury Benches in the Punjab Assembly on Friday failed to take up even official business because the House lost quorum and the opposition lost no time grabbing the opportunity.

The House, which started its proceedings almost an hour and a half late (9am being stipulated time), saw its termination within 90 minutes because it could not maintain its numbers. And this was despite heavy official business on agenda.

The government wanted to lay two ordinances the Punjab Land Records Authority Ordinance and the Urban Immovable Property Tax (amendment) Ordinance. It also had two bills the Punjab Local Government (amendment) Bill and the Punjab Local Government (sixth amendment) Bill to be laid in the House. However, it all fizzled out.

As soon as the House finished adjournment motions following the Question Hour on agriculture, information and dairy development and the chair announced taking up the official business, Arif Abbasi of the Opposition pointed out thin attendance and wanted the Chair count heads to ensure if the mandatory presence (93 members) was there.

It was found missing and the Chair ordered ringing of bells for five minutes but to no avail. Mr Abbasi, who had left the House along with other opposition members, returned to ensure that the Chair does not rig the numbers. He kept counting the numbers aloud, and they were 86 against the mandatory 93. The Chair had thus no option but to abandon the officialbusinessandadjourn the House till Monday afternoon.

Earlier, responding to a question about unabated supply of substandard meat to the city, the House was told that such supply had declined substantially. Since January 2015, around 416,968 kilogram of such meat had been destroyed, 3,454 FIRs lodged and 3,865 people arrested. Out of them, 37 were sent behind the bars.

Teams at the town level were formed for the purpose and the Animal Slaughter Act had recently been amended, tripling the fine and incarceration duration to further facilitate the raiding teams and punishing authorities.

The respondent also said some district administrations also kept the price of meat artificially low, which becomes an incentive for substandard meat sale.