“Regulatory Authorities control cannot be transferred without the Consent of C C I” Chairman Senate

ISLAMABAD ( ABRAR MUSTAFA )

In a ruling about placement of regulatory authorities under the line of ministries announced on Monday, Mian Raza Rabbani, Chairman Senate, was of the view that the attempt to transfer the administrative control of NEPRA, OGRA, PTA, Frequency Allocation Board, and Public Procurement Regulatory Authority was a constitutional violation affecting the rights of the federating units. Chairman Senate took notice, on Feburary 20, 2017, against this administrative decision of government to transfer control from one ministry to another and asked Federal Minister of Law to provide detail about this act. Federal Minister of Law provided detail of the matter in this session held on Feburary 20, 2017. Leader of the Opposition, Chaudhary Aitzaz Ahsan, Senator Sehar Kamran, Muhammad Azam Khan Sawati, Farhatullah Babar, Saleem Mandviwalla, Taj Haider, Muhammad Ali Khan Saif, Lieutenant General R. Abdul Qayyum, Mushahid ullah Khan, Muhammad Usman Khan, Mir Kabir Ahmad Muhammad Shahi, Karnal R. Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi, Lieutenant General R. Salah ud din Tirmizi and Dr Jahanzaib Jamal Dini also presented their opinion regarding the constitutional aspects of the matter.

The chairman reserved the ruling on the question, whether the issue of placement of Regulator Authorities under their line Ministries was required under Article 154 (1) of the constitution to be placed before the CCI for this decision.

The ruling said that the powers of the Prime Minister under sub-rule (3), Rules of Business, 1973, remains in force on matters which are exclusively the business of the Federal Government i.e. Federal Legislative List, Par-I, Constitution, 1973. So, under Article 154 of the Constitution, the control of the regulatory authorities cannot be transferred from one ministry to another. Thus, taking such decisions is an attempt to bypass CCI which affects the right of federating units and is against the spirit of participatory federalism.