Ogra chief's appointment in violation of criteria: National Assembly body

National Assembly Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources has termed the appointment of Tauqeer Sadiq as Chairman of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) in violation of the prescribed criteria approved by the Parliament.
The committee in its meeting on Monday endorsed observations of two members of NA body Haneef Abbasi and Rana Ishaq who expressed serious concerns over the appointment of Ogra chairman, saying that he had a law degree and did not meet prescribed the criteria of appointment. The committee was informed that according to prescribed rules "The Chairman shall be an eminent professional of known integrity and competence with a minimum of twenty years of related experience in law, business, engineering, finance, accounting, economics, petroleum, technology, public administration or management."
The Ogra Chairman failed to justify his appointment in response to queries raised by Haneef Abbasi. "I am surprised how affairs of Ogra are being handled under Ogra chairman who does not meet prescribed qualification and experience," Haneef said, and urged the chairman of the committee to write a note against his appointment. He said that his appointment did not meet procedures which parliamentarians had supported in the parliament. He said: "We will also discuss how Cabinet Division had appointed such person who had no relevant experience and qualification."
Ishaq also expressed resentment over appointment of Tauqeer Sadiq as Ogra chairman who, he said, had no relevant experience and qualification. "Ogra is to deal with the issues of oil and gas, and how we can expect that a law degree holder can settle these issues," he said.
Tauqeer tried to justify his appointment despite lacking experience and qualification and was grilled. He informed NA body that he was drawing salary equal to MP-1 scale that accounted for Rs 0.3 million per month. Members Finance and Gas were appointed in scale MP-2. He said that Member Finance was from Balochistan, who had worked in Finance Department in Balochistan government and had all relevant experience and qualification. He further said that Member Gas Mansoor Muzaffar had past experience of working in Petroleum Ministry and fulfilled all required experience and qualifications.