Five regulators placed under ministries despite court verdict

ISLAMABAD: Five key regulatory authorities have again been put under government’s line ministries -- the decision which is bound to invite the judiciary’s irk and opposition parties' protests.

On June 6, 2017, the Cabinet Division issued the notification, a copy of which is available with The News, conveying the placement of five regulatory bodies under the relevant ministries. The regulatory bodies include the National Electric Power Authority (Nepra), Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Frequency Allocation Board (FAB), Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) and Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA).

A per the notification, the federal government has placed the administrative control of Nepra under the Ministry of Water and Power, PTA and FAB under the Information Technology and Telecom Division, Ogra under Petroleum and Natural Resources and PPRA under the Finance Division.

The notification says: “The federal government has been pleased to order that henceforth the Water and Power, Information Technology and Telecom Division, Petroleum and Natural Resources Division and Finance Division will deal with the government functions of regulatory authorities that include Nepra PTA, FAB, Ogra and PPRA respectively.” The notification also mentioned that necessary amendment in the Rules of Business, 1973 will be made accordingly.

Previously, the government on December 19, 2016 transferred the said five regulators to the respective ministries amid the opposition of governments from Sindh and KP in the Council of Common Interests (CCI). In the meeting of CCI that was held with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the chair on December 15, 2016, the issue of transfer of regulatory authorities from the Cabinet Division to respective line ministries was taken up, but Sindh and KP governments forcefully opposed the move. However, the government, without approval of the CCI, issued the notification on December 19, 2016 putting the regulatory bodies under the relevant ministries.

However, the Peshawar High Court, Islamabad High Court and Lahore High Court had suspended the government decision as it as was the classic example of conflict of interests and was taken without the approval of the CCI. In the CCI, the governments from Sindh and KP had opposed the transfer of the regulatory bodies to the line ministries.

The December 19, 2016 decision had also triggered massive protests by the opposition political parties not only in parliament but also in the public meetings. The political parties had branded the government move a bid to compromise the sovereign independence of regulators in their decisions. The government wanted to have the decisions of their own choice approved.

Independent experts are surprised over the new move of the government as earlier the same decision taken on December 19, 2016 was suspended by the three courts, saying it is beyond their comprehension that why the government is placing the regulators under the lines ministries where only one year is left of government rule. The government spent four years with the existing regulatory regime but in its last one year, it is adamant to make the regulators spineless.

The Islamabad High Court had suspended the government’s decision of December 19, 2016 in its verdict dated March 03, 2017 clearly arguing: “Federal government should place the matter before CCI for its decision pursuant to powers conferred under Article 154 of the Constitution, 1973.”

Likewise, the LHC and PHC in their verdicts had also suspended the government notification. Official sources said that the ministries of Water and Power and Petroleum had been regularly complaining to the prime minister about these regulators. It was particularly pointed out that without changing the regulatory environment, the Nandipur power project and Sahiwal coal-fired project would never become economically viable and the regulators would not allow higher system losses in electricity and gas distribution to be passed on to consumers. Therefore, the subject of transfer of administrative control of the regulators was first put on the agenda of the Dec 15 meeting of the CCI, but was opposed in writing by the KP chief minister, who said the critical matter of public importance, having far-reaching consequences for his province, should not be decided in haste and should be withdrawn from the agenda.