Punjab CM to be Pera chairperson instead of chief secretary

LAHORE: Many important changes were made at the request of the special committee of the assembly before the introduction of “Punjab Enforcement and Regulation Act (Pera) 2024” approved by the Punjab Assembly for price control, hoarding, elimination of illegal encroachments from the government land.

In the initial draft of “Punjab Enforcement and Regulation Act 2024”, the chairperson of the Punjab Enforcement and Regulatory Authority (Pera) was recommended to be the Punjab chief secretary, but the final draft approved by the Punjab Assembly changed it.

The chief minister of Punjab is the chairperson of the authority and chief secretary is vice chairperson. However, the chief minister can delegate her powers to the chief secretary due to her administrative duties. In the absence of chief minister, the chief secretary will preside over the Punjab Enforcement and Regulatory Authority (Pera).

In the same way, according to the initial draft of the law, the IG police was not included in the 15 members of the authority, but the final draft included him as a member. The deputy commissioner was the chairman of District Enforcement and Regulatory Boards and other members included the district public prosecutor, district attorney and additional deputy commissioner (general).

But in the new draft, district police officers (DPOs) are also members of the District Enforcement and Regulatory Boards. In the initial draft, it was written that the authority would have its own uniformed force. No change has been made in the final draft approved by the Punjab Assembly. The authority can recruit qualified people for its own force, but if the authority wants, it can requisition officers from the Punjab police on deputation. But the police employees and officers coming from the Punjab police on deputation will have to wear the uniform of the authority.