IHC for autonomous working of regulatory bodies

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday ruled in favour of autonomous working of five regulatory bodies and quashed the federal government's decision taken earlier to place them under the administrative control of the line ministries. Justice Athar Minallah of the IHC annulled the impugned notification of the government placing Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Frequency Allocation Board (FAB) and Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) under the relevant ministries.
The order said the federal government shall be at liberty to place the matter before the Council of Common Interests (CCI) for its decision pursuant to powers conferred under Article 154 of the Constitution. The constitutional provision clearly provides that formulation and regulation of policies pertaining to matters in Part-II of the Federal Legislative List exclusively falls within the domain of the Council, the court observed.
Moreover, the CCI has been expressly mandated to exercise supervision and control over the regulatory authorities established under the federal laws, Justice Minallah added.
Justice Minallah ruled that the arrangement in place prior to issuance of the government's notification - dealing with the regulatory authorities through the Cabinet Division by the federal government - shall continue till varied, altered or amended pursuant to a decision by the CCI.
Muhammad Nawaz, a worker of the Pakistan Justice and Democratic Party (PJDP), through his counsel Sheikh Ahsanuddin, had approached the IHC challenging the government's decision, urging the court to declare the move unlawful. He submitted that the approval of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) was necessary to reach such policy decisions, but this was not done. He made the Prime Minister through the principal secretary, federal government through secretary Cabinet Division, secretaries of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Ministry of Water and Power, Ministry of Information Technology, Finance Division, OGRA, NEPRA, PTA, PPRA, FAB, and the All Pakistan CNG Association respondents.
The PJDP headed by former Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, had assailed the Cabinet Division's notification of December 19, 2016 which placed administrative control of the five regulatory bodies under the ministries whose activities and functions they were supposed to watch, monitor and regulate under the law. In the petition, Ahsanuddin argued that the government's move violated Articles 153 and 154 of the Constitution, which deal with the CCI role in issues relating to gas, electricity and petroleum.
Under the articles, the counsel stated that CCI is established and it is clearly mentioned under Part-II of the Federal Legislative List that matters related to gas, petroleum and electricity be controlled by CCI by playing a supervisory role of the regulatory bodies.
With the notification and having the direct control of Ogra, he said, the federal government has allowed CNG station retailers to fix their own prices rather than the price is fixed by a regulatory body. The petitioner apprehended that ordinary people will be left at the mercy of big business tycoons and multinational companies to make an undue and unjustified profit without being accountable to the regulatory authorities.
He added that the same will happen in the case of electricity, telephone and gas prices for domestic consumers. It is further maintained that by making the autonomous and independent bodies subservient to the ministries, the government has given a serious blow to the transparency of business deals and there also seems to be a clear conflict of interest between policy making and the ministries, being a stake holders as well. The petitioner had prayed to declare the move as unlawful, violative of the constitutional provisions and of no legal effect.