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  • Aug 19th, 2017
  • Comments Off on Regulatory authorities: official asked to file reply
Expressing dismay over non-compliance of court's directives, Islamabad High Court on Friday redirected secretary Cabinet Division to file a written reply over issuance of a notification to place some regulatory authorities under respective ministries in violation of the court's orders.

In March this year, a single-member bench of the IHC Justice Athar Minallah had set aside the notification of the federal government to place the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) and Frequency Allocation Board (FAB) under their respective ministries.

However, the federal government reissued a notification in the matter to which a petitioner, Muhammad Nawaz, had filed a contempt petition before the High Court, alleging that the respondents Fawad Hassan Fawad, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister, and joint secretary Cabinet Division committed contempt of court by reissuing the notification for placing these regulatory bodies under the ministries.

During the course of proceedings of the contempt plea, the petitioner's counsel told the single-member bench of Justice Athar Minallah that his client had come to know about the notification which was re-issued with a slight change in the text with the same subject in order to control and supervise the independent regulatory bodies without any decision, approval or consent of the Council of Common Interests (CCI).

After hearing the counsel for the petitioner, the bench directed the secretary Cabinet Division to re-submit his written reply on the next hearing and adjourned the case till Sep 08.



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