• Amendments propose creation of new ‘vice chairman’ post, extension of chairman’s tenure from one to four years
• PM, not federal govt, will be empowered to appoint chairman
• Draft law enjoys ‘blessing’ of President Zardari

HYDERABAD: Draft legislation to alter the structure of the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) is nearly complete at the federal level, and apparently has the blessings of President Asif Ali Zardari, the leader of the party that has governed the lower riparian for several terms and been quite vocal on the core issues of water to date.

The fresh legislation introduces amendments to Irsa Act of 1992. The authority is the interprovincial water regulator, a product of the Water Apportionment Accord 1991, signed during Nawaz Sharif’s first government.

Incumbent Irsa chairman Abdul Hameed Mengal, who hails from Balochistan, confirmed that draft amendments to the Irsa Act 1992 had been prepared and forwarded to the federal water resources ministry last month.

The new draft comes in the wake of the Indus River System Authority (Amendment) Ordinance of 2024 — introduced during the caretaker government but denied presidential assent by Dr Arif Alvi.

It was in the light of this ordinance that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif picked Zafar Mahmood to ‘head’ Irsa in March 2024, soon after taking oath as premier. Mr Mahmood is a former Wapda chairman and considered a pro-Kalabagh Dam voice. His notification was withdrawn after an outcry by parliamentarians from Sindh.

The amendments are now being introduced in the assembly following a briefing to the president on the draft in July. According to meeting minutes, which have been reported in the media, the president was briefed on the ‘Green Pakistan Initiative’, encompassing construction of “strategy (sic) canals” like Thar and Rainee in Sindh and Cholistan and Greater Thal Canal in Punjab; restructuring of Irsa policy; and the installation of a telemetry system for irrigation networks.

According to the minutes, the president pledged “all-out support for approval of the Act from parliament for enactment as law at the earliest”. He emphasised appointment of an honest, impartial and well-reputed person, preferably from lower riparian provinces, after enactment of the law.

“Irsa can’t do anything on its own. These amendments are discussed in presidency and then we forwarded it to the federal water resources secretary,” the Irsa chief told Dawn when asked how the act of 1992 was being reworked.

“I can’t say anything as to the effectiveness of the amendments, whether it will benefit or otherwise. It’s premature to comment,” he hastened to add.

Major changes

The proposed amendments seek to make basic changes in the authority’s structure that render it subservient to the federal government. Under the existing act’s clause 4(1), Irsa is a body comprising five members — one each to be nominated by the four provinces and the federal government from amongst high-ranking engineers in the field of irrigation.

Clause 4(2) provides for the post of chairman to rotate among the members. It says the first chairman should hail from Balochistan, then Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh and the federal government and so on, while subsection 3 fixes the term of the chairman as one year and that of a member for three years.

The amendments proposed in clause 4(2) introduce the post of ‘vice chairman’. It says “from amongst members each member shall, on basis of rotation, serve as vice-chairman of the authority for a term of one year and upon commencement of Act first VC of Authority shall be member nominated by CM Balochistan”.

Another change being sought is that “[Irsa’s] chairman shall be an employee of the federal government, who is serving or has served in BS-21 or equivalent or above to be appointed by Prime Minister”. The chairman’s term has now been fixed at four years, while keeping the term of the other members at three years. Another amendment in 8(1)(ba) says in case of conflict between observations made by the Authority, Wapda or any provincial irrigation department the observations of the Authority “shall take precedence over all other observations to the contrary”.

Advisory committee

Irsa currently has an Advisory Committee that consists of the chairman, who is also chairman of the advisory committee; members of the authority; chief engineering adviser to the federal government; members of the Water and Power Development Authority, in charge of the water and power wings; and the secretaries for agriculture and irrigation from the four provinces.

As per clause-10, the committee is supposed to meet to consider matters that the authority may refer to it. The advisory committee can also hold meetings on its own at the start of each of the cropping seasons of kharif and rabi.

Now, two changes are being introduced in this clause: new clause 10(a) provides for “committees and sub-committees”, empowering the authority to constitute such bodies or co-opt, engage, or hire experts or consultants that may be required to carry out the functions envisioned under the Irsa Act.

Meanwhile, clause 10(B) creates an ‘Independent Experts Committee’, which shall comprise the secretary technical (as its convener); two experts having experience in hydrology, hydraulic, modeling or related engineering fields and two experts having experience in GIS, remote sensing, irrigation and the committee may co-opt other experts and consultants from time to time on Chairman’s recommendations. All these members of the committee, except co-opted members, shall be full-time employees of the Authority, according to sub-section 3 of clause 10(B).

Under the changes, the PM will be empowered instead of the federal government to “remove chairman or any member after providing an opportunity to being heard and in consultation with provincial government concerned”.

Under the amended law, the PM would be able to appoint a retired or serving federal government officer in BS-21 as the chairman.

Bone of contention

Interprovincial water distribution has been a bone of contention between Punjab and Sindh, as the latter mainly presses for water distribution under para-2 of Accord 1991 and Irsa distributes it under the “three-tier formula”.

Issues including canal projects and the three-tier formula have been pending adjudication before the Council of Common Interests (CCI) since 2018, when then-attorney general Anwar Mansoor led a committee formed by then-PM Imran Khan to look into the matter. The body had backed the stance of Sindh on the “three-tier formula”.

Interestingly, the amendments have been worked out at a time when PPP is working closely with the PML-N-led coalition at the Centre. At the same time, there has been a lot of back and forth between the Sindh government and the Centre over canals being built upstream Indus in Punjab.

PPP’s Sindh president Nisar Khu­hro, who represented Sindh before the Executive Committee of the Na­­tional Economic Council, had even urged the Asian Development Bank to refrain from funding ‘controversial projects’ the Greater Thal Ca­­n­al-II and Chaubara canal in Punjab.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2024