Regulatory bodies under ministries: IHC blocks fresh govt notice

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Thursday ordered the Prime Minister’s principal secretary to appear in person before the court on July 1 for allegedly violating the court’s order which had set aside a notification placing five regulatory authorities under the relevant ministries.

Justice Athar Minallah summoned the PM’s principal secretary Fawad Hasan Fawad and Cabinet Division Joint Secretary Dr Iram Khan “to explain as to why proceedings may not be initiated against them under the Contempt of Court Ordinance 2003.”

The court also suspended a June 6 notification of the government which had again placed five regulatory authorities under the relevant ministries.
In the order, Justice Minallah directed the respondents to place on record a copy of the summary which led to the June 6 memorandum, apparently in violation of the court’s order issued on March 27.

The court has also directed the respondents to submit written explanations for the memorandum within three weeks.

In its previous order, the court had “unequivocally held that neither the Federation of Pakistan nor the prime minister is vested with jurisdiction or power to interfere with or alter, change or amend entry 53 of clause 2 of schedule-II of the Rules of Business, 1973”.

The court order noted that the rule existed before December 19, 2016, notification was issued.

“Despite the judgment of this court, the federal government has issued [the] memorandum,” the order read.

Justice Minallah noted that the memorandum appears to be willfully flouting and disregarding the court’s previous judgment.

In its March 27 judgment on a notification issued by the federal government placing the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), National Electric Power Regulatory Authority, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, the Frequency Allocation Board and Public Procurement Regulatory Authority under the relevant ministries, Justice Minallah said it was “unambiguously” held that the notification, issued without seeking prior approval from the Council of Common Interests for administrative arrangement of regulatory authorities, was void.

“The approval of the Council of Common Interests is mandatory for any decision regarding placement of the regulatory authorities under ministries or divisions,” Justice Minallah stated. “Needless to mention,” he added that the memorandum of June 6 was void in the light of the law and the court’s March 27 order.

The order came after a citizen had filed a contempt of court petition in the IHC against government functionaries over non-implementation of its order.

Muhammad Nawaz, a worker of the Pakistan Justice and Democratic Party, through his counsel Saliheen Moghal, had approached the court seeking contempt proceedings against PM’s principal secretary and the federation through the Cabinet Division’s joint secretary for not implementing a previous decision of the IHC.

Nawaz told the court that he had discovered that the government had re-issued the notification by slightly changing the words but with the same subject – control and supervision of the independent regulatory bodies – without any decision, approval or consent of the Council of Common Interests (CCI).

“No decision or approval of the CCI has been obtained by the respondents as is required under the Constitution and the order of this court,” the counsel stated in the petition.

Source: The Express Tribune