Govt misses SC’s 3G auction deadline for appointing PTA members, chairman

Supervisory auction committee established in violation of procedure.

KARACHI:

The federal government has missed the Supreme Court’s (SC) deadline to appoint the chairman and members of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), said a source familiar with the matter.

The apex court, on September 2, had directed the government to appoint the chairman and members of PTA, the telecom sector’s regulatory body, within 10 days. The SC had also directed that following his appointment, the new chairman would present a schedule for the long delayed auction of third generation (3G) mobile spectrum before the apex court on the next hearing date – Monday, September 16.

The deadline has already passed without any official announcement from the government regarding the appointments of any members – one of whom would be made the authority’s chairman. This was also confirmed by sources familiar with the matter.

“If someone had been shortlisted or appointed, the news would have spread like wildfire,” said an official who requested anonymity while confirming no members were appointed as of September 12, the deadline given by the SC. There was no announcement on Friday either.

The members are appointed by the establishment division, while the cabinet division issues an official notification in this regard, an official said. It wasn’t likely for the government to look into 165 applications and finalise the members in just 10 days, he added.

A summary, to appointment members of PTA, was already sent to the Prime Minister House, said another official, adding that it was also submitted to the SC in the last hearing. The official added however that they didn’t receive any notification from the cabinet division regarding appointments in the telecom regulator.

While there seems to be no progress on the appointment of PTA’s leadership – the signing authority and a must for completing 3G auction – the Ministry of Information Technology (IT) and Telecommunication has formed a committee, almost on the same pattern as the former government, to supervise the auction. The titles of the members are almost the same but the faces have changed, said an official requesting anonymity.

Forming an auction supervisory committee (ASC) will be a wrong step, a senior official said. The former government had made the same mistake, he added, explaining that the PTA, being an autonomous body, should be given full authority in the matter.

The telecom regulator had successfully auctioned 2G spectrum without any supervisory committee and it doesn’t need one, said the official. Millions of dollars are at stake with the 3G auction, he said, which leads to vested interests of specific people. The previous ASC had also given dictations to PTA and this interference led the country nowhere, he said.

It is best to give full autonomy to PTA, which is responsible for the outcome of the auction, the official said.

The current ASC will be chaired by the finance minister, while other members include Minister IT and Telecom; Chairman, PTA; Executive Director, Frequency Allocation Board; Member Telecom; Secretary Finance, Secretary Law and Parliamentary Affairs and Minister of Science and Technology, the official said.

The members of the ASC, formed by the former government, included Minister Privatisation, Minister Water and Power, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources and was also headed by finance minister.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 15^th, 2013.

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