The Musharraf government had set up these regulatory bodies under the Cabinet Division which unfortunately were misused by senior bureaucrats as lucrative post-retirement slots indicating that several heads of these bodies did not possess the qualifications or the necessary experience. However, the actual purpose of a regulatory body is to enforce standards, oversee and regulate the operations of entities under their jurisdiction for the public good. It is usually a part of the executive branch of government with oversight from the legislative branch, and open to legal review. What is significant is that Nawaz Sharif's decision to bring regulatory bodies under the line ministries was taken subsequent to Nepra's opposition to government request to impose a one percent security cost on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects on several grounds including: (i) upfront tariffs for wind, solar, bagasse and small hydel projects had already assumed finality with any addition likely to generate legal complications; the tariffs had already an inbuilt security cost inclusive of insurance against sabotage and terror attack; (ii) security was required for foreign workers while extending the additional cost for 30 years would be burdensome for consumers; and (iii) as all independent power producers have security risks similar to CPEC projects extending higher cost to CPEC projects alone would be discriminatory.
It was expected, though it is unfortunate, that Nepra withdrew all its objections to the one percent increase in security costs. Ogra too needs to review Unaccounted for Gas (UfG) which is a source of considerable angst among the key stakeholders. Thus in this context, for the party expected to form the next government - Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf - to clearly and unambiguously state that it would grant autonomy to all the regulatory bodies is laudable. However, one would urge PTI to ensure that the heads of these regulatory bodies are qualified and experienced individuals and induction of their members and heads is done through a transparent process based on merit.
And finally, one would urge the incoming government to grant complete autonomy to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, an entity that has been abused and misused by successive Pakistani finance ministers to show a highly unrealistic performance and has disabled them from taking informed mitigating measures on time. The PBS must be taken out of the administrative control of the Ministry of Finance and placed under the Cabinet Division and be answerable to the cabinet rather than to the individual whose policies and decisions are responsible for the macroeconomic statistics.