Illegal appointment: SC dismisses chief of oil and gas regulator

Orders probe into corruption claims; asks NAB to submit report within 45 days.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court struck down Tauqir Sadiq’s appointment as chairman Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) on Friday, and ordered the anti-corruption watchdog to investigate allegations of misuse of pubic office and corruption.

The apex court in its detailed judgment stated that chairman Ogra’s position would be considered vacant from the day the notification of his appointment was issued in July, 2009. It has also set aside his appointment notification.

The court ordered Sadiq, brother-in-law of PPP General Secretary Jahangir Badar, to return the salary and privileges he has drawn from the public exchequer during his tenure as chairman of the powerful oil and gas sector regulator. The unanimous judgment was passed by a three-member bench comprising Justice Shakirullah Jan, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain.

The foremost reason given for the chairman’s removal is that his appointment violated section 3(4) of the Ogra Ordinance, 2002, which states that the Ogra chief must be an eminent professional of ‘known competence and integrity’.

Sadiq, against whom there are a number of corruption allegations, and who purports to have an LLM degree from a ‘fake degree-awarding’ institution, the American University in London, fell short of the required standard. The bench recognised the executive’s authority to make appointments, but referred to the constitution to specify that he has to exercise this power in a demonstrably fair and honest manner.

The judgment points to serious irregularities in Sadiq’s appointment. Applicants were arbitrarily selected with little attention being paid to ‘objective indicators of their ability and merit’. No one investigated the fake degree or other unsubstantiated claims on his curriculum vitae when he was short-listed. The interviews of 17 candidates were scheduled in a single day and a single field expert was deputed to examine their technical skills in wide-ranging fields.

The court observed that corruption allegations levelled against Sadiq were worthy of a serious investigation and directed the National Accountability Bureau to submit a report within 45 days. The court maintained that fundamental rights of the people were threatened by improper appointments on key positions in autonomous regulatory bodies. Since it is the court’s duty to secure their rights by virtue of article 184(3), it is obliged to take cognizance of unfair appointments. This is why Muhammad Yasin’s application was held maintainable. An Ogra employee, he had challenged Sadiq’s appointment in the apex court. The judgment has been authored by Justice Khawaja.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 26^th, 2011.