ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet on Wed­­nesday decided to withdraw the curat­ive review petitions filed against Justice Qazi Faez Isa of the Supreme Court, observing that the action was taken by the previous go­­vernment through “unfair use of authority”.

The cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, also decided that the record in this respect should be made public after its scrutiny. For this purpose, an inquiry committee consisting of representatives of all allied political parties, including Minister for Kashmir Affairs Qamar Zaman Kaira, Minister for National Food Security Tariq Bashir Cheema and Minister for Education Rana Tanveer was constituted.

The inquiry committee, after assessment of the review petitions filed against Justice Isa, would present a report to the cabinet.

Read: Who is Justice Qazi Faez Isa?

The federal cabinet also approved the Inter-Government Commercial Transaction Act-2022, sent by the Ministry of Law and Justice, and recommended it be presented before the relevant parliamentary committee. The cabinet was earlier apprised that the proposed law would help boost the confidence of foreign investors and increase foreign investment in the country. The law wou­ld also be helpful in the government-to-government (G2G) development agreements.

Govt names new FIA DG, national coordinator for counter-terrorism

It also reviewed the losses caused by torrential rains in Sindh and Balochistan provinces. The PM appreciated the efforts of Sindh chief minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, who was personally visiting the rain-hit areas to review relief activities during the rains in the province, particularly in Karachi and Hyderabad.

The cabinet also approved the posting of Mohammad Tahir Rai, an officer of the Police Service of Pakistan and former director general of Federal Investigating Agency, as National Coordinator on Counterter-rorism. It also approved the posting of Mohsin Butt, a grade 22 officer of the Police Service of Pakistan, as FIA DG.

On the recommendation of the Ministry of National Health Services and Regulations, the cabinet approved to enhance the maximum retail prices of the 15 types of imported cardiac stents in proportion with the exchange rate.

The federal cabinet also endorsed the Economic Coordination Committee decisions, taken in its July 25 meeting, including approval of the supplementary grant for the ministry of information and broadcasting for fiscal year 2022-23 for holding 75th Independence Day ceremonies, ap­­p­roval of the compensation package for the victims of terrorist attack at Confucius Insti­tute, Karachi University, and approval of pro­­viding electricity and RLNG to export sector at new rates from August 1.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2022