Legality of ECC recent decisions questioned: pew

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The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Friday questioned legality of decisions taken by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet in its meeting held on April 09.
The decisions were taken in consultation with a member and two other senior officials of Ogra who were invited to the meeting despite the April 06 decision of the Islamabad High Court declaring the regulator dysfunctional, it said.
The government not only invited Ogra officials to the meeting but included a member Ogra in the LNG pricing committee and issued directives to amend Ogra rules which is contempt of court, said Dr. Murtaza Mughal, President PEW.
He said that a dysfunctional institution cannot modify rules and that conduct of ECC has put a question mark on the legality of the decisions taken in the meeting.
Dr. Murtaza Mughal said that a division bench of IHC comprising Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Amir Farooq not only stopped Ogra from functioning but also declared orders and steps the authority took so far were without a lawful authority.


Ogra was formed in 2002 to improve the energy sector but it failed to deliver as most of its top officials remained involved in inquiries and controversies.
Some think that Ogra is weakened according to a plan so that influential sectors can play according to their desire.
He said that apart from Ogra, Sui companies are also resisting moves like import of LNG to reduce intensity of energy crisis to keep their monopoly and interests.
Pakistan doesn’t need to import LNG from Qatar or natural gas from Iran or Turkmenistan if gas losses including thefts are brought down to the level of Bangladesh, said Dr. Mughal.

In: UncategorizedAuthor: pakistaneconomywatch