The Upper House of Parliament is set to take up a number of important constitutional matters including ''The National Counterterrorism Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and a bill seeking restructuring of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), today (Monday).
Besides, [The Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill, 2016] will also be put for legislation. And the government will also lay an ordinance, called national Accountability (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017 that President Mamnoon Hussain has promulgated on Saturday night, in order to get rid of plea bargain and voluntary return controversies.
The bill titled "Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill 2015", submitted by Sassui Palijo of PPP, is on top of the agenda issued for the private members'' day sitting today.
Through the bill, which the PPP senator claims is in line with the 18th Constitution Amendment giving more autonomy to provinces, the mover has sought equal representation of the four provinces in Ogra and also sought a role of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) in resolving disputes between the federal government and provinces.
The Ogra bill suggests that the chairman of the authority shall be appointed on a rotation basis from the four federating units on the pattern of the Indus River System Authority (Irsa). The bill has also sought changes in the eligibility criteria for the chairman and members of the authority.
Ogra has been functioning since promulgation of the Ogra Ordinance 2002 (Ordinance XVII of 2002) on March 28, 2002, with the main power to determine prices of some oil and gas products, many of them falling in the provinces'' jurisdictions.
At present, Ogra comprises a chairman and three members, who are known as member gas, member oil and member finance.
The bill seeking amendment to Section 3 of the ordinance suggests that Ogra should comprise "four members one each from the four provinces, to be appointed by the federal government in consultation with the provincial government concerned."
The mover has suggested insertion of a new sub-section 3A which states: "The chairman of the authority shall be appointed from amongst the members for a period of one year, by rotation in the given order."
At present, the Ogra chairman is appointed for a four-year term. According to the bill, the member from Balochistan will become the chairman of the authority first, followed by members from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh.
Another private member''s bill by Senator Farhatullah Babar of PPP titled National Counter Terrorism Authority Act, 2013 [The National Counter Terrorism Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2016], as reported by the Standing Committee, will also be moved in the House.
Senator Farhatullah Babar said that ever since the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) Act was passed the board of governors has not met even once the board of governors headed by the prime minister and including about twenty-five members rarely has time to meet.
"The board of governors is a policy making and review body. It should meet whenever it is necessary for it and at least once a year. The existing provision that board of governors must meet every quarter is unrealistic and this is one reason that it has not met even once during the past over one year," he added.
According to statement of objects and reasons of the bill, the executive committee which is the implementing body should be required to meet at regular intervals. In the existing law there is no mention of how often the executive committee should meet. This has left a lacunae in the law. 2 The existing amendment seeks to remove the lacunae, binds the executive committee to meet at any time as and when necessary and at least once in each quarter of a year. Also the Board of Governors has been mandated to meet as and when required and at least once in a year.
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