Govt hires chairman of NEPRA tribunal

Hiring comes after court directed govt to make appellate tribunal functional in 10 days

ISLAMABAD:

The government has appointed the chairman and member finance of the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) tribunal following directives from the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The tribunal is supposed to comprise a chairman and two members ie member finance and member electricity. The posts of chairman and members were approved by the prime minister under MP-I and MP-II pay scale respectively. Sources told The Express Tribune that the government appointed Justice (Retd) Ibadur Rehman Lodhi as chairman for a period of four years and Zeeshan Shahid as member finance for a period of three years in the Appellate Tribunal under Section 12A (2) of the Nepra Act having jurisdiction over the whole of Pakistan.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had directed the government to make the tribunal functional within 10 days.

Following directive of the apex court, a summary carrying names of three candidates for the post of tribunal chairman was tabled in a meeting of the cabinet held on September 22. The three candidates included Justice (Retd) Ibadur Rehman Lodhi, Justice (Retd) Mujahid Mustacieem Ahmed and Justice (Retd) Syed Afsar Shah.

The Energy Department, Government of Sindh had forwarded a panel and recommended the name of Zeeshan Shahid for appointment as member finance of Nepra tribunal, Islamabad.

Candidates for the post included Zeeshan Shahid, Shakil Ahmed and Shahbaz Khan. In view of the recommendations, the Law and Justice Division solicited approval of the cabinet for making appointments on the two posts, which was approved.

Decisions of the Appellate Tribunal shall be taken by majority. According to its terms of reference, a former judge of a high court shall be the chairman for a single term of four years on conditions as prescribed and shall be nominated by provinces or the federal government, as the case may be, by rotation.

The order of rotation shall be in this way: member representing the federal government, member representing Punjab, member representing Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, member representing Sindh and member representing Balochistan.

It was also highlighted that the chairman of the Appellate Tribunal would not be appointed if he had attained the age of 65 years. Member finance shall be a qualified chartered accountant or a qualified cost and management accountant.

Member electricity is required to be a member of the Pakistan Engineering Council with specialisation in electrical engineering and shall be nominated by the provinces or the federal government, as the case may be, by rotation from each province.

If there are less than three members in the Appellate Tribunal, the presence of two serving members shall constitute a quorum provided that in the case of a quorum of two, the decision shall be taken by consensus.

Any decision taken at a meeting where a quorum is present shall constitute a valid and enforceable decision or determination by the Appellate Tribunal.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2020.

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