Senate rejects PM''s executive order on regulatory bodies

Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani on Monday ruled that the Prime Minister can not transfer a regulatory authority from one ministry to another without seeking prior approval from the Council of Common Interests (CCI). In a 17-page ruling, which he had reserved after holding a debate on the transfer of five regulatory bodies to their line ministries through an executive order last year, he said: "The powers of the prime minister under sub-rule (3), rule 3, Rules of Business, 1973, remain in force on matters which are exclusively the business of federal government ie Federal Legislative List, Part-I, Constitution 1973."
He declared that "any attempt to bypass CCI in taking such policy decisions is a constitutional violation aimed at affecting the rights of the federating units, hence, is against the spirit of participatory federalism and the scheme of the Constitution". The position of CCI, he added, has clearly been defined in the case of Federation of Pakistan vs United Sugar Mills, PLD 1997 SC at 394, that states: "Again in one significant respect the federal executive authority has been obliged abridged under the Constitution and has been entrusted to a newly created institution called CCI. It is a body quite apart from federal executive."
Rabbani said that the step taken by the Prime Minister is unconstitutional as he has exceeded his powers, adding the Prime Minister completely ignored the CCI, as no regulatory body could be brought under a line ministry without the Council''s approval.
The government had taken the plea that placement of five regulatory bodies under the administrative control of line ministries without taking the matter to CCI was constitutional and the Prime Minister could do it through an executive order.
Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid had claimed that the regulatory authorities had been handed over to the ministries concerned under the rules and the constitutional powers of the government and the decision was in line with judgements of courts.
But through different court verdicts and the position taken by the Opposition Leader in Senate, Aitzaz Ahsan, who is a senior lawyer, Rabbani said that anything which is in the Federal Legislative List (Part-II) can not be done by the Prime Minister without seeking approval from the CCI.