‘Cowering’ regulatory bodies: Senate chief complains to PM over cabinet decision

Senators question government’s will to let bodies function independently; also seek permanent secretariat for CCI

ISLAMABAD: The Senate chairperson has written a letter to the prime minister complaining that the government’s decision to put regulatory bodies under line ministries is in violation of the Upper House’s ruling and the court orders.

The Senate body on devolution also urged the government to withdraw its last two notifications in this regard and resolve the matter with consensus through Council of Common Interests (CCI).

Senate chairperson Raza Rabbani wrote the letter on Thursday about the recent cabinet secretariat’s memorandum to put the regulatory bodies under line ministries after its approval from the federal cabinet on June 6.



Rabbani conveyed that his letter of June 20, 2017 - referring to the cabinet secretariat’s memorandum of June 6 - termed the memorandum a violation of his ruling in the Senate on February 21, 2017.

“The control of regulatory authorities cannot be transferred from one ministry to another without obtaining prior approval from the CCI in terms of Article 154 of the Constitution, 1973,” he said. “Any attempt to bypass CCI in taking such a policy decision is constitutional violation, affecting the rights of federating units, and against the spirit of participatory federalism and scheme of the Constitution.”

Rabbani asked the PM to take notice of the notification as it could not have been the intent of the government to violate the ruling of the chair and also the orders of various high courts.



The Islamabad High Court had ordered on June 22 the prime minister’s principal secretary to appear in person before the court on August 1 for allegedly violating its order of March which had set aside the decision of placing five regulatory authorities under the relevant ministries.

Senate panel

The ire over the cabinet’s decision echoed during the meeting of Senate’s Standing Committee on Devolution as senators grilled Cabinet Division Secretary Nadeem Hasan Asif for not being able to justify the decision.

The senators stated that the will and intent of the government had been missing from the whole episode, while the rest was just eyewash.

“The government has never tried to pressure, intimidate or take over the administrative control of these ministries, nor we intend to do so in the future,” the cabinet secretary stated.



Curious as to why the government was suddenly taking such a step, Senator Muhammad Ali Saif said if claims of the government that no administrative control of these bodies was being taken was nothing but a cosmetic measure then “what else is the purpose of putting the regulatory bodies under the line ministries as one of the bodies was established in 1997?”

Senator Kamil Ali Agha replied that the government wants to take complete control of these bodies and manage the prices as was done with Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority whose recommendations to change oil prices were turned down by the government twice in recent months.

Besides implementing the rulings of the Senate chairperson and the courts, the committee unanimously recommended that the government withdraw notifications of December 2016 and June 6 and stop pursuing the case in courts.

The committee also recommended permanent establishment of CCI secretariat.