Members of the cabinet have noted that the merger of National Fertiliser Marketing Limited (NFML) into Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) has made the former a redundant entity and have called for winding it up.
They made the observations while discussing the appointment of National Fertiliser Corporation (NFC) chief executive officer (CEO).
During discussion in a recent meeting of the cabinet, some cabinet members were of the opinion that with the merger of NFML into TCP, the former had become a redundant entity and should be wound up, sources in the Ministry of Industries and Production told The Express Tribune. There was a difference of opinion as to whether ex-post facto approval could be granted by the government in light of the judgement in the Mustafa Impex case.
Cabinet members were, however, of the view that in compelling circumstances ex-post facto approval was necessary to give legal cover to the actions/decisions taken during the period.
The Industries and Production Division informed the cabinet that NFC was a private limited company, wholly owned by the government of Pakistan and registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan under the Companies Act 2017.
The additional charge of the company CEO was assigned to Sher Alam Mahsud, Ministry of Industries Additional Secretary, after removal of the serving CEO on September 4, 2019.
However, the additional charge expired on February 11, 2020. Later, a collective summary for giving additional charge of CEO/MD of public sector enterprises, working under the administrative control of the Industries and Production Division, was sent to the prime minister on March 17, 2020.
The summary included the proposed extension in tenure of Mahsud as the NFC CEO. The summary also contained some observations of the Establishment Division and adviser to prime minister on institutional reforms and austerity. In the meantime, Mahsud, in anticipation of approval of the additional charge, kept on working as the NFC CEO between February 2 and July 4, 2020.
The Ministry of Industries emphasised that the said period needed to be regularised. Furthermore, services of Mahsud had been placed at the disposal of Ministry of Interior on July 4, 2020 and the post of NFC CEO had been vacant since then.
Earlier, the Cabinet Division communicated on May 7, 2020 that the federal cabinet had approved NFC as a candidate for privatisation or Sarmaya-e-Pakistan Limited, which required several decisions and oversight by the CEO during the process.
Since the post of NFC CEO had been vacant since July 4 and it was not practical to hire a new CEO from the private sector during the restructuring process, in light of the observations it was expedient to assign the additional charge to an officer of the Industries and Production Division, the cabinet was told.
It was also informed that the NFC CEO was the ex-officio chairman of the board of directors of NFML - a subsidiary of NFC - and there were matters of urgent nature pending with the board. It added urgency to the matter.
The Industries and Production Division sought ex-post facto approval of the cabinet for giving the additional charge of NFC CEO to Mahsud from February 11 to July 4, 2020.
It also asked the cabinet to give the green signal to granting the additional charge of NFC CEO, during the company's transition period, to Dr Hamid Ateeq Sarwar, Additional Secretary-II, Industries and Production Division. The cabinet considered the summary titled "Appointment of Chief Executive Officer, National Fertiliser Corporation (NFC)" and approved the proposal of the Ministry of Industries.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 26th, 2020.
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