CCP chairman, members: appointments made without Cabinet Division's approval

Ministry of Finance has appointed Members and Chairperson of Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) without the approval of the Cabinet Division. On December 6, 2017, the federal government appointed Dr Muhammad Saleem and Dr Shehzad Ansar as Members of CCP. The positions of CCP Members had fallen vacant after Dr Joseph Wilson completed his two consecutive terms in November 2016, and Mueen Batlay's and Shahzad Ansar's two consecutive terms ended in January 2017.
On 17 December 2017 while exercising its powers under Section 17 of the Competition Act, the federal government re-appointed Vadiyya Khalil as Member and Chairperson for another term of three years. Her initial appointment for her first term as Chairperson was made on 17 December 2014.
Under Section 14 of the Competition Act, 2010, the 18 August, 2016 ruling of Supreme Court states: "The prime minister cannot take decisions by himself or by supplanting or ignoring the cabinet because the power to take decisions is vested with the federal government ie the cabinet and unilateral decisions taken by the prime minister would be a usurpation of power".
The federal government has been following the directives of Supreme Court's verdict in high level postings in autonomous, semi-autonomous, corporations and companies in letter though not in spirit, legal sources told Business Recorder. A senior services lawyer of Supreme Court of Pakistan, Muhammad Shoaib Shaheen told BR that the government is not following the directives of the apex court in certain appointments and re-appointments in government companies and statutory bodies.
He further accused the government of violating the directives of Supreme Court in senior appointments in federal services tribunal. He further said that the appointments of head of autonomous and semi-autonomous companies were made and approved by the Prime Minister and rubber stamped by the cabinet. A former Cabinet Secretary told Business Recorder that after the apex court judgment, neither the prime minister's advisers nor senior bureaucrats hold the legal powers they previously held. Instead, the legal authority to make executive decisions now vests in the hands of the federal cabinet.
The commission must consist of not less than five and not more than seven Members.