Punjab Assembly's Judicial Committee under Section 11-C: A New Institutional Chapter in Parliamentary Privilege

Independently written and published by Shahbaz Shah Legal Journal.

When statutory design becomes a working institution

In July 2026, the Punjab Assembly publicly announced the constitution of a Parliamentary Judicial Committee under Section 11-C of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab Privileges Act, 1972, and named Sardar Muhammad Awais Dreshak as its Chairman. The Assembly described the development as a first in its own history.

This is an important institutional development. It does not mean that a new Privileges Act was enacted in 2026. The Act dates from 1972, while the modern enforcement provisions, including Sections 11B, 11C and 11D, were introduced through later amendment. What is new is that the statutory framework has now been given practical institutional form.

Awais Dreshak and the chairmanship

Sardar Muhammad Awais Dreshak is the sitting Member of the Provincial Assembly for PP-296, Rajanpur-V, in the 18th Punjab Assembly. The public announcement naming him Chairman gives his role particular importance: he will preside over a forum created to deal with alleged breaches of the Assembly's privileges under a specific statutory procedure.

The office should be understood as a legal and institutional responsibility, not merely a political designation. The Chairman's task is to ensure that the Committee remains within the limits of the Act: that it acts only on a lawful reference, identifies the precise scheduled breach alleged, gives proper notice, records relevant material, and reaches a reasoned outcome.

Why the Privileges Act matters

The Provincial Assembly of the Punjab Privileges Act, 1972 is rooted in Article 66(2), read with Article 127, of the Constitution. Its object is to enable the Assembly, its Committees and its Members to discharge their constitutional functions properly and effectively.

Parliamentary privilege is therefore not a personal benefit available to a Member for private purposes. It is an institutional protection. It exists to protect the functioning of the House, its Committees, its proceedings, its officers and the ability of Members to carry out legislative work without unlawful obstruction.

The Act contains protections relating to speech, proceedings, detention, service of process and the power to summon persons and documents. The significance of the later amendments is that they added a defined enforcement path for specified breaches of privilege.

The statutory pathway: Sections 11, 11A and 11B

Section 11 provides that the acts and omissions listed in the Schedule constitute breaches of privilege. The Schedule includes conduct such as interfering with a witness, giving false evidence, producing fabricated material, refusing to answer a lawful and relevant question, wilfully disobeying a lawful order, obstructing Assembly officers, and disturbing Assembly proceedings.

Section 11A provides that a breach of privilege becomes an offence punishable in accordance with the Schedule.

Section 11B is the essential gateway. It requires the Committee on Privileges to be satisfied that a privilege of the Assembly, a Committee or a Member has been breached within the meaning of Section 11, and that punishment is to be imposed under Section 11A. Only then does the Act require that a reference be made to the Judicial Committee.

This sequence is important. The Judicial Committee is not a forum for every disagreement, political complaint or public controversy. Its jurisdiction begins through the statutory referral process after the Committee on Privileges has considered whether the matter falls within Sections 11 and 11A.

Section 11-C: more than an advisory committee

Section 11-C is the centre of the new framework. It provides that a Judicial Committee notified by the Speaker has exclusive jurisdiction to try offences and award punishments under the Act, excluding media persons.

The section gives the Committee a defined procedural structure:

• proceedings begin after receipt of a reference;
• the Committee may commence proceedings through a notice or show-cause notice;
• it may administer an oath to a person whose evidence is or may be relevant;
• Section 10 applies for summoning persons, requiring documents and recording evidence;
• a person accused under the Act cannot be compelled to make a statement concerning the alleged offence; and
• a sentence awarded by the Judicial Committee is to be executed as if it were a sentence of a Magistrate of the First Class.

These provisions make Section 11-C much more consequential than an ordinary committee mandate. The Act uses the language of jurisdiction, trial, punishment, evidence and execution. At the same time, the Committee's authority remains confined to offences and procedures created by the Act itself.

Section 11-D and the importance of procedural safeguards

Section 11-D provides an internal statutory appeal to the Speaker within thirty days of an order passed under the Act. The statute describes the Speaker's decision as final.

Section 14 further provides that proceedings before the Judicial Committee are summary proceedings. A summary process should be efficient and focused, but it must still be fair. A person facing an allegation should know the precise scheduled breach relied upon, receive the material being used, have an opportunity to answer it, and receive a clear written decision.

The first proceedings under this framework will be especially important. Good procedure will require a complete official record: the original complaint, the Committee on Privileges' findings, the Section 11B reference, the notice, service record, reply, evidence, order and any appeal.

Sections 11-E and 11-F: the limits of the privilege process

Sections 11-E and 11-F are equally important because they show that the Act is not a substitute for the ordinary legal system.

Section 11-E provides that where the same conduct is also an offence under another law, it is to be tried under that other law, subject to the complaint mechanism stated in the section. The Judicial Committee should therefore distinguish a pure breach of parliamentary privilege from conduct that properly belongs before the ordinary criminal justice system.

Section 11-F addresses attendance before the Committee and removal from Assembly precincts under lawful authority. It also contemplates police assistance on formal summonses or warrants. These powers must remain linked to the statutory process, a lawful order and the exact limits of the Act.

Why this is a historic development for the Punjab Assembly

The Punjab Assembly's own public announcement describes the Judicial Committee as the first such committee constituted in its history. That is the historically significant point supported by the Assembly's public material.

The 2021 statutory changes were already on the books. The 2026 development is significant because it gives operational reality to a framework that had existed in legislative text but had not previously been constituted in this form.

It would not be professionally accurate to claim, without a separate jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction legislative study, that no other assembly anywhere has comparable privilege legislation. The available material firmly supports a more precise statement: this is a historic first for the Punjab Assembly under its own statutory framework.

The practical effect

For the Assembly and its Committees, the Judicial Committee provides a structured mechanism for dealing with conduct that obstructs parliamentary work or undermines the integrity of Assembly proceedings.

For persons who may be summoned or accused, the same structure makes legal safeguards essential. A statutory forum exercising powers to issue notices, record evidence, award punishment and trigger execution must act with clarity, restraint and procedural fairness.

For the public, the value of the Committee will depend on transparency. Its authority will be strengthened when its proceedings remain tied to the text of the Act, the Schedule, the rules, the official record and reasoned decisions.

Conclusion

The constitution of the Judicial Committee chaired by Sardar Muhammad Awais Dreshak marks a new institutional chapter in the Punjab Assembly's history. It brings practical meaning to Sections 11B, 11C and 11D of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab Privileges Act, 1972.

The Committee's long-term credibility will depend on disciplined use of the statute: a valid reference, a clearly identified scheduled offence, fair notice, relevant evidence, concise proceedings and a reasoned order. That is how parliamentary privilege can protect the functioning of the Assembly while remaining faithful to the rule of law.