The auction process may remain suspended till PTA convinces the Bureau that PPRA rules were followed in hiring consultants of international repute and it was in conformity with the PTA Act, well-placed sources told Business Recorder. One of the key and relevant officers of the Authority on Friday directed the Director General (Co-ordination) PTA that NAB (Awareness & Prevention Division) vide their letter No NAB/PC/I/MU/Sec-MoIT/lesL33 dated 19th December 2012 found the hiring of consultants for 3G/4G spectrum auction in violation of PPRA rules. And as a consequence, he directed to stop all the proceedings in this regard.
These directives were also forwarded to Member Technical, Director General (Licensing), OIC (Law and Regulation), Director General (Finance), Director General (Commercial Affairs) and PSO to Chairman PTA). The auction process became controversial when two members of the Authority namely Member Technical Dr Khawar Siddique Khokar and Member Finance Nasrul Karim Ghaznavi refused to approve the Information Memorandum (IM) prepared by the three consultants in a meeting recently held with Prime Minister in the chair.
They termed the hiring of consultants in violation of PPRA rules and a violation of the PTA Act and apprised NAB of their reservations. The NAB took action on the complaint and asked PTA to brief the Bureau in this regard. PTA briefed NAB over the hiring process however the latter termed it unsatisfactory, saying that it was in violation of PPRA rules. Chairman PTA Farooq Awan recently said that the advisory group comprising experts/consultants of international repute hired for the auction of 3G spectrum reckons that the process would be completed by January 23, 2013. However this deadline appears difficult to meet in the current scenario, sources maintained.