Govt to turn regulators friendly to woo investors

BOI will review existing regulatory regimes, submit recommendations

ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to review existing regulatory regimes and turn regulators friendly in a bid to facilitate domestic and international investors and attract investment.

The decision was taken in a recent meeting of the cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The cabinet decided that the Board of Investment (BOI), in consultation with Adviser to Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms Ishrat Husain, would review the existing regulatory regimes and submit recommendations in line with the policy matrix developed to facilitate international and domestic investors on priority. The subject of regulators came under discussion when the cabinet decided to place them under its administrative control again.

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The previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had decided to transfer the regulators from the Cabinet Division to their respective line ministries and divisions. However, the step sparked controversy and several cases were filed in courts to challenge it.

Petitioners moved to Islamabad, Peshawar and Lahore High Courts and took the plea that the decision was taken without seeking approval of the Council of Common Interests (CCI), which was an inter-provincial body.

The three high courts suspended implementation of the decision entirely or partially. The Cabinet Division, on the advice of the Law and Justice Division, then filed a case in the Supreme Court, challenging orders of the high courts on the plea that the transfer of regulatory authorities was basically an administrative move, which fell under the purview of the prime minister. The case remained pending in court. In compliance with orders of the high courts, the administrative control of regulatory authorities was not transferred to the line ministries and divisions, and these authorities continued to function under the Cabinet Division.

Later, a summary was sent to PM Imran, proposing two options. First, the government should continue to contest the case in the apex court. Second, the government should withdraw the notifications issued on December 19, 2016 and June 6, 2017 to revert to the position prior to December 2016 when the regulatory authorities were functioning under administrative control of the Cabinet Division.

The Law and Justice Division was of the opinion that the regulatory bodies were already functioning under the Cabinet Division and there was no harm in revoking the notifications.

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The matter was discussed by the secretaries committee on June 20, 2019 on the directive of the prime minister. The committee recommended that it would be in the interest of the regulatory bodies if they remained under administrative control of the Cabinet Division as under that arrangement they would be more effective. Therefore, the cabinet, in the meeting chaired by the prime minister, decided that regulatory bodies should continue to function under administrative control of the Cabinet Division.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 4^th, 2019.

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