ISLAMABAD, Feb 9: The Consumers Rights Commission of Pakistan (CRCP) on Saturday expressed reservations about the proposed Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), describing the idea as an attempt to hoodwink international donors.

The draft for the establishment of OGRA is likely to be enacted at the forthcoming cabinet meeting.

CRCP director Salman Humayun told reporters here at the CRCP secretariat that the proposed ordinance was a weak legislative arrangement that would not only adversely affect the consumers but also the businesses by making the entire sector dependent on an emerging bureaucracy of regulatory bodies.

The draft law also curtails the jurisdiction of the high court in the oil and gas sector, he said.

Mr Humayun said the proposed law did not guarantee even the minimal protection available to consumers under the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Act 1996 and the Nepra Act 1997.

He pointed out that Section 9 of the draft ordinance would empower the authority to decide any issue without allowing citizens to present their point of view.

“The CRCP believes that regulators are required to hear all stakeholders including the government, the industry and consumers and only then make decisions and determine tariffs,” he said.

Similarly, the definition of consumer protection in Section 2 was restrictive and did not recognize consumer groups and public interest organizations as legitimate stakeholders, he noted.

Describing the sub-section 6(3) as an attempt to protect the interests of oil and gas companies at the cost of environment, Mr Humayun said the proposed law did not provide adequate guarantees for environment protection despite the fact that the oil and gas industry was among the major polluters of environment.

Similarly, he added, the section 21(2c) would empower the federal government to determine petroleum prices. The CRCP was of the opinion that government intervention in matters of price/tariff determination contradicted the very spirit of regulatory laws.