KARACHI: The Sindh government on Wednesday gave an undertaking to the Sindh High Court that no adviser would exercise ministerial powers in the wake of its judgement.

Headed by Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, a two-judge bench disposed of the petition against Saeed Ghani, the adviser to the chief minister on labour and human resources, after Chief Secretary Rizwan Memon assured the judges that the SHC’s orders in that regard were being implemented in letter and spirit.

The chief secretary appeared in court in response to the court’s show-cause notice with an explanation, saying that no adviser was using executive authority and all the departments’ secretaries had been informed in that regard.

Abdul Sattar Niazi, represented by Advocate Mohammad Ali Lakhani, had petitioned the SHC against the PPP senator for exercising executive authority and presiding over meetings of the Sindh Employees Social Security Institute (Sessi).

The SHC had earlier given a detailed verdict on the petition challenging the appointment of adviser to the CM on law Barrister Murtaza Wahab and the grant of a ministerial portfolio to him.

The court had held that the advisers could not exercise the powers of ministers, nor could they hold any portfolio.

Earlier, a single bench had restrained Senator Ghani from convening Sessi’s 145th meeting scheduled for Dec 15.

The restraining order had come on the lawsuit filed by Qazi Abdul Wahab and seven other employees of Sessi.

The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Nouman Jamali, contended that the adviser to the CM on labour and human resources was not competent to chair meetings of Sessi in terms of Section 5 of the Sindh Employees Social Security Act 2016.

Notices in five regulatory bodies case

The Sindh High Court directed the federal and provincial authorities to file their replies on a petition challenging the transfer of five regulatory bodies, including the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) and the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), under the administrative control of the relevant ministries.

Headed by Justice Munib Akhtar, a two-judge bench also issued notices to the federal and provincial law officers to ensure filing of comments by the respondent authorities by Jan 24.

The petition was filed by Naimatullah, a worker of the Pakistan Justice and Democratic Party, who assailed the federal government’s notification issued on Dec 19, 2016, transferring the control of Nepra to the Water and Power Division, Ogra to the Petroleum and Natural Resources Division, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and Frequency Allocation Board to the Information Technology and Telecom Division and the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority to the Finance Division.

The petitioner’s counsel, Advocate Abdul Wahab Baloch, submitted that the federal government had brought the five autonomous and independent regulatory bodies under the administrative control of the relevant ministries whose activities and functions they were supposed to monitor and regulate under the law.

He stated that the regulatory bodies were established to promote fair competition and investment in their respective fields and to protect public interests and consumer rights. “These bodies were meant to be autonomous and free from political influences, unbridled bureaucratic and direct governmental control,” he said.

The counsel contended that as per the Constitution, the regulatory bodies established under the federal law were to be controlled exclusively by the Council of Common Interests.

He said the constitutional mandate had been clearly violated by the federal government by transferring the regulatory bodies to the ministries and thus its action was without any lawful authority and of no legal effect.

The counsel submitted that after taking control of Ogra, the government through its ministry concerned allowed the CNG stations and retailers to fix gas prices on their own instead of allowing the regulatory body to do so.

He apprehended that the same would be the case with prices of electricity, domestic gas supply and telephone services. The public would be left at the mercy of businessmen and multinational companies which might earn undue and unjustified profits without being accountable to regulatory control, thus defeating the very purpose of establishing the regulatory authorities.

The petitioner asked the court to declare the notification about the transfer of administrative control of the regulatory bodies to the respective ministries as illegal and unconstitutional.

He further asked it to declare as illegal the notification allowing the CNG retailers to fix their gas prices.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2017