Ogra chief's appointment case: Supreme Court asks government to submit reply in 15 days

A three-member SC bench on Thursday directed federal government to submit a reply with regard to a petition challenging appointment of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) Chairman Tauqeer Sadiq in 15 days. The bench comprising Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain issued order while hearing civil petition filed by Tahir M Sheikh against Tauqeer Sadiq, Chairman Ogra & others.
The petitioner had claimed that Tauqeer Sadiq has a fake Masters of Law (LLM) degree, adding that Sadiq has allegedly been involved in massive corruption being Ogra chairman. During the course of hearing, the Cabinet Division submitted a report that said 'knowing the fact that Sadiq's degree of LLM was fake the authority would not have appointed him as Ogra Chairman'.
The report also stated that the Federal Public Service Commission had already sent a report on Sadiq misconduct where he granted new connections of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) stations sans considering government directions and also made illegal transfers. Former Ogra Chairman Tauqeer Sadiq was forced to go on leave for three months after the violation. However, Mansoor Mazaffar Ali was appointed as the Acting Chief of Ogra.
Ikram Sheikh counsel for Tauqeer Sadiq pleaded that the petition should be declared non-maintainable because his client was suspended but the bench rejected his pray and issued notices to the Federation to submit a written reply and adjourned the hearing till last week of September.