PAKISTAN Govt owes Rs2.5 billion to NADRA, SC told

ISLAMABAD: The National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) on Monday complained before Supreme Court (SC) that the federal government had not paid authority its arrears of Rs2.5 billion.

The authority told the apex court that the failure to pay the arrear may affect the organisation’s ‘sustainability as an identity-management organisation of international repute’.

You won’t believe how much NADRA charges for cancellation of Pakistan Origin Card

NADRA said this in a report it submitted to the apex court in a suo motu case being heard by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar. The top judge took suo motu notice over the exorbitant fee being charged for the issuance of National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP) and cancellation of the Pakistan Origin Card (POC).

According to the report, which was submitted by the Deputy Attorney General Sohail Mahmood, NADRA does not receive any funding from the government for running its vast operations.

NADRA explained that the pending Rs2.5 billion was in view of the federal government’s decision to make the first time issuance of ID cards free of cost to the citizens and agreed to partially bear the cost.

However, the authority said that the federal government was not making these payments, thus the receivable is continuing to increase.

The report also explained that NADRA issues two different cards under NADRA Ordinance 2000 to overseas applicants called the NICOP, which is issued to citizens residing abroad under section 12 of the ordinance, and POC under section 11 of the ordinance.

The report told the SC that the reason behind the high price was because NADRA had to operate 14 registration centres overseas and the expenses incurred are in foreign currency.

Similarly, the cost of POC, with a validity of seven years, is $150 whereas the fees of obtaining a Pakistani visa ranges from $197 to $228 in different countries like Norway, Denmark, Germany and United Kingdom, the report said. It added that NICOP/POC holders can gain entry to Pakistan on presentation of their respective cards.

NADRA also told the court that the rents and salaries of the staff working for these centres are higher which is why the prices of the NICOP/POC are high. Thus, the cost of operating these centres abroad is much higher than those in Pakistan and in the absence of higher fees it may not be feasible for the authority to operate its centres overseas.

The authority also told the court that the expensive IT infrastructure for serving overseas Pakistanis is another reason for higher costs of the card.

It told the court that NADRA is using a web-based system for the issuance of NICOP and POC and giving online services at such a scale requires them to have a high speed internet connection, with state-of-the-art cyber security infrastructure.

The report also said NICOP/POC fee had not increased since 2012 and in order to facilitate the overseas Pakistanis, the validity of the cards had been increased from seven years to 10 years without any additional charges. The hearing will resume today (Tuesday).

Source: The Express Tribune