ISLAMABAD: The Indus River System Authority (Irsa) is feeling threat to its existence by a government move to amend a 1992 act of parliament and control the water regulator’s administrative powers.

“If changes are made in the act, it will open a Pandora’s box and may jeopardise the functioning of Irsa and ultimately lead to its annulment,” Irsa Chairman Raqib Khan has written to the federal government.

The letter was written after the introduction of an amendment bill in the National Assembly by Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, a PML-N legislator from Sindh.

Take a look: Irsa says water distribution its responsibility

At an emergency meeting, Irsa comprising five members – four from the provinces and one from the centre – unanimously opposed the amendment.

The National Assembly Sec­re­­tariat had sent the proposed bill to the regulator for information after Speaker Ayaz Sadiq admitted it for introduction.

Irsa has taken the position that the regulator was established under clause 13 of the Water Apportionment Accord 1991 duly approved by the Council of Common Interests (CCI) with consensus. “Any amendment to the act will be repugnant to the spirit of the accord as well as the autonomy given to Irsa under the act and may frustrate the achievements while signing the historical 1991 accord,” it said.

The regulator recalled that water-related amendments to the Irsa act were earlier suggested wherein no consensus was arrived among the provinces and the centre.

Also read: Irsa’s operational, financial independence restored

An Irsa official said the authority was being threatened because it had been resisting water discharges for power generation against the irrigation requirements of the provinces. He said the regulator had been extending possible cooperation to the power sector authorities, but it could not allow water releases without provincial indents or when the provinces were drawing half of their allocated water shares.

If changes are made in the act, it will open a Pandora’s box, says Irsa chief Raqib Khan

The bill introduced by Mr Vankwani sought an amendment to section 12(2) of the Irsa act and proposed that financial and service rules and regulations of the regulator should be approved by the federal government. The funds allocated for duly approved projects will not lapse till their completion, but all saved or unutilised funds shall be seized and deposited in the Federal Consolidated Fund at the conclusion of every fiscal year.

The bill also proposed that the house rent ceiling as approved by the government for its employees should also apply to Irsa employees and that “Irsa shall have no car or any such vehicle for the use of its officers, members and the chairman”. Instead, an entitled person should be paid an amount equal to a government officer under the monetisation scheme, except that its staff be provided a staff bus.

Interestingly, about two weeks ago, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly had restored operational and financial independence of Irsa, suspended a couple of months ago over objections raised by the Auditor General of Pakistan. The committee, however, advised Irsa to get its administrative issues settled in the shortest possible time in consultation with the establishment division to address reservations of the audit department.

A few days after the PAC decision, Mr Vankwani introduced the amendment bill in the assembly.

A sub-committee constituted by the PAC under the chairmanship of PPP parliamentarian Syed Naveed Qamar had suspended special and housing allowances after examining audit paras about Irsa for the fiscal year 2003-04. The allowances granted in 2003-04 on the directive of then chief executive Gen Pervez Musharraf were found irregular by the AGP.

While moving the Irsa headquarters from Lahore to Islamabad in 2002 to address Sindh’s concern over new water reservoirs, the then government had promised additional allowances and out-of-turn housing facility in Islamabad for the Irsa staff.

But after the shifting of the headquarters to Islamabad, the Ministry of Housing declined to provide housing facility and said Irsa was not in the housing list of the federal government because it was established under an act of parliament like corporations and other regulators.

The regulator was allowed to frame its own rules under section 12(2) of the Irsa Act 1992 to provide for housing and special allowances like the secretariat allowance being paid to federal government employees to compensate increase in the cost of living arising out of its shifting from Lahore to Islamabad.

Subsequently, Irsa framed its own rules providing for allowance on the pattern of secretariat allowance at 20 per cent of basic salary and housing allowance at the government rate applicable to other officials.

The water and power ministry approved the allowances and issued a no-objection certificate.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2015

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