The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday suspended the notification placing five autonomous regulatory bodies under the control of the various ministries.
The regulatory bodies – Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Frequency Allocation Board – were put under the control of different ministries in December last year.
LHC Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah suspended the notification on a petition filed by advocate Sheraz Zaka.
Zaka submitted that the regulatory bodies were put under the control of different ministries in violation of the rules since the approval of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) was necessary to make a policy decision.
The government’s counsel argued that it had the approval of the federal cabinet before making the decision. Zaka, however, rebutted by saying the cabinet had no authority to grant permission.
The hearing was later adjourned for six weeks.
On December 19, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif gave the administrative control of five autonomous regulatory bodies to related ministries. The decision was taken while disregarding strong opposition from the provincial governments of Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
In July 2016, the IPC ministry had forwarded a summary to the prime minister seeking control of all subjects of the federal regulatory authorities.
The summary stated that since these authorities were under the cabinet, the ministry of information technology and telecom, and others, the IPC ministry was unable to efficiently coordinate with the provinces.