3G auction: SC gives govt one week to appoint PTA chief

Says authority functioning without a head is practically a non-existent entity.

ISLAMABAD:

A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday gave government one-week deadline to appoint the head of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

“We direct the secretary concerned to take up the issue immediately and discharge his function by appointing the chairman of the PTA without further loss of time,” reads the order of the bench.

The bench said the PTA was virtually non-existent as the post of its chairman had been lying vacant since February last and the telecommunication sector was running without any regulator.

“The court has noted with great concern that the federal government functionaries, despite earlier directions, have failed to appoint a permanent chairman PTA,” the chief justice observed while dictating the order.

On Wednesday Deputy Attorney General (DAG) for Pakistan Imran-ul-Haq told the court that Syed Ismail Shah, a PhD has been appointed as the acting chairman but the court reminded him that there was no concept of acting chairman under section 3 of the Pakistan Telecommunication Reorganisation Act 1996.

“Without any chairman all the decisions taken up by the authority will not be legal,” the court said.  The DAG said the government had already issued schedule for bringing the 3G technology in the country.

As per federation’s attorney, Syed Ismail Shah was appointed acting chairman under a notification issued on September 26, 2013. He was appointed first as one of the members of the three-member PTA body and later was elevated to act as the acting chairman.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th, 2013.