ISLAMABAD, May 10: In a surprising move the National Assembly standing committee on petroleum and natural resources decided on Thursday to issue warrants against Cabinet Secretary Nargis Sethi over her continuous absence from the meetings of the committee.

A meeting of the committee presided over by its chairman Sardar Talib Hussain Nakai, asked the government to place the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority under the petroleum ministry despite the fact that Ogra regulates the entire oil and gas sector, including the private sector.

The committee called upon the government to deal with the issues related to Ogra effectively or make it a totally independent body. “The other option is to bring it under the control of the petroleum ministry so that massive corruption in Ogra can be checked,” Mr Nakai said.

Petroleum Minister Dr Asim Hussain informed the meeting that since Ogra was not under the direct control of his ministry it was not responsible for actions taken by the regulatory body. After expressing dissatisfaction over the working of Ogra, the committee suggested to the government to put it under the petroleum ministry.

The committee even ignored Ogra officials’ plea that the regulator was meant for the entire oil and gas sector, including operational decisions of the ministry.

The meeting observed that Ogra officials were involved in corruption and misappropriations and noted that the regulator was under the Cabinet Division which is indirectly under the prime minister.

The committee took serious notice of the absence of Cabinet Secretary Nargis Sethi and unanimously accepted Jamshed Dasti’s proposal by to issue warrants against her. Mr Dasti also accused Finance Minister Dr Hafeez Sheikh of being involved in malpractices.

Responding to a question related to the petroleum levy which is causing hike in prices of petroleum products, Dr Asim said it was imposed in the last budget.

“Parliament can reduce or even abolish the petroleum levy. A major chunk of General Sales Tax on different petroleum products is passed on to the provinces,” Dr Asim said.

He said the provinces were getting 70 per cent of the total GST. If they were ready to reduce their share in the GST, the federal government would welcome it, he added.

Ogra officials told the committee that despite being a regulator it was only monitoring the oil prices. “After deregulation of the petroleum products last year the price fixation is being done by the petroleum ministry,” said Ogra executive director Jawed Nasim.

After the meeting, Petroleum Secretary Mohammed Ejaz Chaudhry told newsmen that the government would increase gas prices for all consumers from June.