October 06, 2007	Saturday	Ramazan 23, 1428

KARACHI, Oct 5: The Competition Ordinance seeks to create a dynamic market monitoring authority, the Competition Commission, to ensure that conditions imperative for the functioning of a free market economy are preserved and forces found obstructing or abusing the system are penalised.

Like competition laws elsewhere, this ordinance supports limitless growth in the private sector, but empowers the commission to penalise severely the companies found guilty of undermining the process of competition.

“The spirit of the ordinance is to strengthen the institution of market not by posing any restriction on the size of an outfit but by monitoring their conduct. It would not allow anyone to use its size to restrict other market players or monopolise fixation of prices,” an expert commented.

The government has brought in Mr Khalid Mirza, widely known in the corporate sector from his three years stint as head of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, to steer the commission as its chairman.

When contacted in Islamabad Khalid Mirza confirmed to have received a copy of the promulgated ordinance.

Our sources in Islamabad told Dawn that the government has again committed a blunder by not notifying the appointments of the governing board and the chairman of the commission when it promulgated the ordinance.

“There is no legal cover to the staff and head of the monopoly control authority, a body that has been transformed into competition commission, as their reappointments have not yet been notified,” a senior officer at the ministry of law confirmed.Higher-ups of the ministry of finance, that is said to be the referral ministry for the autonomous market regulatory bodies, were locked in a cabinet meeting along with the concerned ministers and were not available for their comments on the lacuna being created by the delay in issuance of the notification.

The copy of the ordinance obtained confirmed that the monopoly control authority ceased to exist with the promulgation of the Competition Ordinance. It was reconfirmed from the staff of the disbanded authority that they have yet to know their status and they received nothing in writing from the government in this regard.

The copy of the ordinance that was signed by the President on Oct 2 took three days to reach the office of the commission on Oct 5.

In Pakistan, the economic history of past few years is riddled with commodity market scams, when manipulators pocketed millions of rupees at the cost of the multitude. Especially sugar and wheat flour crises were said to be handiwork of speculators and hoarders who hold back supplies, create shortages and then release the product at higher rates.

In cement and fertiliser sector, there were indications of existence of cartels that kept prices at artificially higher level to pocket unearned profits.