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Friday, November 08, 2013


Country being run on adhocism: SC

* SC unhappy over non-appointment of permanent NEPRA chairman

By Hasnaat Malik

ISLAMABAD: Hearing a matter related to the recent increase in power tariff, the Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday expressed anger over the federal government and observed that the country was being run on adhocism.

A three-member bench of the court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, took notice of the non-appointment of permanent chairman of NEPRA, and said, “How could an acting NEPRA chief can take decisions independently?”

The bench expressed it shock to know that acting NEPRA Chairman Khawaja Naeem was the relative of water and power minister.

The CJP lamented that the tradition of favouritism in high-level appointments was still alive. “Everything is being run through nepotism and junior officers are being appointed on key posts,” he added.

The CJP also said that the government promulgates ‘Protection of Pakistan Ordinance’ in 24 hours but no legislation was done about Federal Service Tribunal and, therefore it had been ineffective since 2012. The CJP said that if the federal government was not agreed with the SC’s judgement in Khawaja Muhammad Asif petition, it should file a review petition in this regard.

Justice Jawwad S Khawaja also pointed out that acting chairmen are looking after affairs of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) “but it has been disclosed today that NEPRA is also performing its function under the chair of an acting chairman”.

He said that an acting chairman always felt insecurity about his job; therefore, he could not introduce a stable policy.

On the other hand, Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Munir A Malik also admitted that after the SC’s judgement in Khawaja Asif case, several department heads were not appointed.

The AGP also assured the bench that he would convey court’s concerns about appointments on ad hoc basis to the federal government.

The CJP remarked that the top legal officer of the country must satisfied the bench that if everything was to be run by the court then what were the functions of the government.

Meanwhile, the counsel for NEPRA, Rashdeen Kasuri, submitted a list of 21 NEPRA chairmen, who had been appointed since 1997.

According to the list, no permanent chairman of NEPRA had been appointed by the federal government since 1997. However, Rashdeen Kasuri told the bench that process to appoint permanent chairman of the authority had continued.

During the course of hearing, Muhammad Azhar Siddique, counsel for a party in the case, revealed that Khawaja Muhammad Naeem was not performing as permanent chairman of NEPRA.

Siddique alleged that NEPRA was not performing its function independently because it was following directives of the federal government to run its affairs, adding that NEPRA has also not prescribed the performance standards for investment plans as well.

Meanwhile, the counsel for Pakarab Fertiliser Limited, Khalid Anwar, contended that according to the federal government’s policy, fertiliser industry was its second priority with regard to supply of gas. He informed the bench,” It is quite apparent that the fertiliser industry is being discriminated against by SNGPL on account of the preference to the CNG sector.”

 

Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk

 





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