LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday sought parawise comments from the federal government and five regulatory bodies which were subjugated to their relevant ministries.

Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah had already suspended a notification regarding subjugation of the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (Pepra) and Frequency Allocation Board (FAB) under their respective ministries.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Jahangir Tareen and a citizen, Ali Irfan, had filed the petitions on the matter.

At the outset of the Tuesday’s proceedings, petitioner’s counsel Sheraz Zaka objected to appearance of a private counsel on behalf of ministry of water and power. He pointed out that a recent judgement by the Supreme Court stated that the government could not engage private counsel.

However, Advocate Faisal Naqvi told the court that his power of attorney was duly certified by attorney general of Pakistan.

The chief justice overruled the objection and adjourned hearing till May 5 with direction to the respondents to submit replies. Earlier, Advocate Zaka argued that an approval from the Council of Common Interest (CCI) was mandatory under the Constitution for transferring the control of autonomous regulatory authorities to the ministries. He said the Supreme Court in many judgements also declared approval from the CCI a mandatory provision for the purpose.

The lawyer contended that the government had assumed dual role by producing and transmitting electricity, while also acting as the regulator, by placing Nepra under the control of water and power ministry. He said placing PTA and FAB under the control of information technology & telecom ministry, PPRA under finance ministry and Ogra under petroleum ministry was a clear case of conflict of interest.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2017