ISLAMABAD: Justice Athar Minallah of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) here on Monday set aside a federal government notification under which administrative control of five regulatory bodies was transferred to the ministries through a notification dated December 19, 2016.
The control of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Frequency Allocation Board (FAB) and Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) was given to the ministries under the said notification.
The IHC bench in its short order said that the federal government could put this matter before the Council of Common Interests (CCI) for its decision pursuant to powers conferred under Article 154 of the Constitution.
The IHC bench noted that the constitutional provisions, unambiguously provide that formulation and regulation of policies in relation to matters in Part II of the Federal Legislative List exclusively falls within the ambit of powers and jurisdiction of the Council and the CCI had been expressly mandated to exercise supervision and control over the regulatory authorities.
As per the IHC orders, the Cabinet Division will see the matters regarding these regulatory bodies as per prior arrangements before issuance of notification. A member of Pakistan Justice and Democratic Party (PJDP) headed by the former Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, had filed this petition.
The petitioner, Muhammad Nawaz, had contended that the said act of the federal government was a violation of articles 153 & 154 under which the Council of Common Interests (CCI) supervised the matters related to gas, electricity and petroleum. The petitioner nominated principal secretary to the prime minister, federal government through secretary Cabinet Division, secretaries Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Ministry of Water and Power, Ministry of Information Technology, Finance Division, Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) through its chairman, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) through its chairman, Frequency Allocation Board (FAB), Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) and All Pakistan CNG Association as respondents.
The petitioner assailed the December 19, 2016 Cabinet Division notification whereby administrative control of the five regulatory bodies was purportedly transferred to the ministries whose activities and functions they were supposed to watch, monitor and regulate under the law. Legal counsel for the petitioner, Sheikh Ahasanuddin advocate, who is also the focal person of PJDP, had been arguing before the court that the independent status of regulatory bodies could not be diminished with a single notification of the PM.
As per article 153 & 154, CCI controls and supervises the regulatory bodies. Transferring administrative control of the regulatory bodies is a clear violation of the Constitution and law, advocate Sheikh also said.
This notification has given powers to cartels that increased prices of the CNG as per their wishes. This impugned notification is also an intervention into the rights of federating units, advocate Sheikh said.
The petitioner had been saying that these statutory regulatory bodies were established to promote fair competition and investment in their respective fields and to protect public interest as these were autonomous bodies free from political influences.
He further said that articles 153 and 154 of the Constitution established a CCI and under Part II of the federal legislative list it is clearly mentioned that matters related to gas, petroleum and electricity to be controlled by CCI that will play a supervisory role of the regulatory bodies.
