LHC suspends notification placing regulatory bodies under ministries

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) chief justice on Tuesday suspended a federal government notification pertaining to transfer of administrative control of five regulatory bodies to their respective ministries.

The government had placed the control of National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (Pepra) and Frequency Allocation Board (FAB) under their respective ministries.

The petitioner's counsel, Advocate Sheraz Zaka, argued that an approval from the Council of Common Interests (CCI) was mandatory under the constitution for transferring the control of the autonomous regulatory bodies to the ministries.

He said the SC, in its numerous judgements, also declared approval from the CCI a mandatory provision for the purpose. He argued that the government, on the one hand, was involved in production and transmission of electricity, and on the other it wanted to assume the role of regulator by placing Nepra under the control of Water and Power ministry.

Similarly, he said, placing the PTA and FAB under the control of information technology & telecom ministry, PPRA under finance ministry and Ogra under petroleum ministry was a clear case of conflict of interests.

The lawyer prayed to the court to set aside the impugned notification for being unlawful. A deputy attorney general argued that the approval of the CCI was not necessary as the cabinet had approved the action.

The chief justice observed that the rule of law was essential as the prime minister should have sought approval from the CCI before issuing such notification. The chief justice suspended the impugned notification and sought appearance of attorney general of Pakistan on the next date of hearing.