Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Wednesday was told that armed forces officials were reappointed in various organisations after their retirement.

The debate began when MQM Senator Muhammad Ali Saif told the House that a retired brigadier was appointed as the NEPRA chairman.

Balochistan National Party Senator Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldini claimed that armed forces officials were reappointed as heads of important institutions after their retirement. He added that it was mandatory for civilian governments to appoint these retired officials. PML-N Senator Muhammad Nisar said out of 17 diplomats, 8 were retired armed forces officials.

To this, Senators Lt Gen (r) Abdul Qayyum and Lt General (r) Salahuddin Tirmizi told the House that anybody would work effectively if a competent person was appointed as its head. They were of the view that the retired army personnel always gave positive results when appointed as head.

Over bringing the five regulatory bodies under the ministries concerned, opposition senators termed the government decision against the constitution, rule of law and demanded to withdraw it. The government needs the permission of Council of Common Interest (CCI), but in this case it was totally bypassed. The Supreme Court would strike down the government’s decision if someone filed a petition.

Senator Babar said that out of the five regulatory bodies notified to be transferred to ministries four were decoys so that the transfer of NEPRA to the Water and Power Ministry did not attract undue public attention and scrutiny. He said the government wanted to bring NEPRA under its heels because of the regulatory body’s refusal to allow the un-realist high tariff demanded by a solar power producer.

The solar producer demanded a tariff of Rs 14 per unit which the regulator refused thereby annoying the powerful solar power producer and their backers. He said that record showed that targeting of NEPRA started ever since the solar tariff issue came into the open. PTA, OGRA, PPRA and Frequency Allocation Board have also been transferred to ministries served as decoys for NEPRA, he maintained. He said the issue should be referred to the Senate’s Committee on Water and Power for investigation and to expose the real faces behind it and their motives. The opposition said the action would hamper the independence and autonomy of the authorities. They said that the regulatory authorities should be made autonomous in true sense by appointing proper persons. Law Minister Zahid Hamid would present the government point of view on Friday. To a calling attention notice moved by MQM Senator Tahir Mashhadi regarding the non-protection of Margalla Hills National Park, Climate Change Minister Zahid Hamid said the government had taken a number of steps for the protection of the park. He said the stone crushing in the park had been completely stopped and stone crushers shifted out of Islamabad Capital Territory to Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. He said all type of construction had been stopped in buffer zone within 5 km round the Margalla Hills. To another calling attention notice moved by Saleem Mandviwalla regarding the non-functioning of Central Laboratory for Environmental Analysis and Networking called as CLEAN which was used for sampling and analysis of air pollution, Hamid informed the House that the seven fixed and three mobile stations of CLEAN were not functional since 2012 due to lack of maintenance. He said the government took notice of the issue and allocated special funds for its maintenance or replacement. He said negotiations were underway with the sole supplier from Japan and CLEAN would be rehabilitated soon. The Senate passed “The Companies (Appointment of Legal Advisors) (Amendment) Bill, 2016”. The bill provides to amend the Companies (Appointment of Legal Advisors) Act, 1974.

Another Bill “The Public Private Partnership Authority Bill, 2016” was introduced in the House today. The chair referred the bill to the Standing Committee of the House.