Senate body wants NEPRA to resolve disputes in 60 days time period

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Delegated Legislation on Wednesday recommended a maximum period of 60 days to National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) to decide any disputes related to market operator and market participants.

The Committee which met here at the Parliament House under the chairmanship of Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq was briefed by NEPRA officials regarding compliance of proposed amendments in NEPRA (Market Operator, Registration, Standard and Procedure) Rules 2015.

As recommended by the Committee, most recommended amendments were made.

However regarding the recommendation that a specific time limit be provided to decide any disputes, NEPRA proposed 90 days to which the Committee recommended 60 days time frame.

While deliberating over issues pertaining to compliance of proposed amendments in Underwriter Rules 2015, the SECP informed the Committee that all suggested amendments were made, however, with regards to providing definition of Public Interest in the Rules, it was stated that the term Public Interest has wide connotation and has been extensively explained and interpreted in superior courts judgements.

Any attempt to define the term may narrow the scope of the term as it varies from case to case. Senator Raza Rabbani agreed and said that this is a much larger question and is something that must be decided by the Parliament.

The Committee agreed with this and recommended that the term Public Interest must be defined by Parliament and reliance must be placed case to case by interpretation of court judgements. While discussing the Bill on Delegated Legislation prepared by the Legislative Drafting Unit, the Committee recommended, as suggested by Senator Raza Rabbani, that the Bill must be simple, since it would create ease of passage in both Houses.

It was further recommended that in the statutes that the government has been given power to formulate rules and regulations must be finalized within a period of three months as opposed to the six months proposed in the draft bill.

It was further stated that once finalized, these rules must be laid before both Houses.

The Committee recommended that the second draft of the Bill with all recommended changes be presented in the next meeting. The Committee lauded the efforts of the Legislative Drafting Unit for their efforts while reviewing acts that were devised between the years 2015 to 2018.

The Committee was informed that 61 acts were formulated out of which 45 acts lack subordinate legislation.

The Committee recommended that letters should be written to relevant ministries and departments to formulate subordinate legislation within 45 days.

It was further suggested that an interim report must be prepared and placed before the Parliament. The meeting was attended by Senators Raza Rabbani, Hasil Khan Bizenjo, Dr Asad Ashraf, Robina Khalid Rukhsana Zuberi and NEPRA and SECP officials.