Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani is to take his Cabinet colleagues into confidence on Wednesday on the order of special five-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Asif Khosa, sources told Business Recorder.
"The PM will discuss political situation in the country, and his personal future, which is directly linked with the upcoming decision of the larger bench of Supreme Court, which would start hearing from January 16, 2011," sources said. They said that the Prime Minister held consultations with legal experts and close political associates on the possible consequences of the order of the Supreme Court.
According to the regular agenda of the Cabinet meeting, a copy of which is available with Business Recorder, the Cabinet will consider a proposal from the Ministry of Railways on its restructuring. The Cabinet, in its meeting held on March 10, 2010 had considered a summary from Finance Division on "approval of the decision of Cabinet Committee on Restructuring (CCoR) of Public Sector Entities (PSEs) and proposed roadmap for reorganisation of the identified PSEs".
According to the documents, the Ministry of Commerce has conveyed approval of the Prime Minister for reconstitution of the Board of Directors (BoDs) of Railways. A draft bill to amend the transfer of Railways Order (P.O. No 33 of 1962) was submitted to the Ministry of Law and Parliamentary Affairs for vetting so that the newly constituted Board of Directors could be notified.
The Ministry of Railways maintains that Railways is subject to Part II of the Federal Legislative List and thus falls within the purview of the Council of Common Interests (CCI). However, Law Division opined that being an administrative matter, reconstitution of the Railways Board does not require approval of the CCI. While vetting the proposed legislation, Law Division advised the Ministry of Railways to submit the draft bill for amending the law for approval of the Cabinet under rule 27(5)(i) of the Rules of Business, 1973.
The Law Ministry has observed that the distinction made between day to day functions involving administrative decisions and policy matters is very clear from the case law. Therefore, the constitution of Railways Board is an administrative matter and has to be dealt with the administrative Ministry itself, being the authority concerned. Resultantly, the administrative Ministry ie Ministry of Railways, is empowered to make appointments to the Railways Board, having also been approved by the Prime Minister.
The proposed Board will be as follows: (i) Federal Minister for Railways (Chairman); (ii) Secretary, Railways, member (nominee, MoR); (iii) representative of CcoR Private sector (a) Aziz-ur-Rehman (industrialist); (b) Dr Akmal Hussain (distinguished professor of Economic, Beacon House, National University); (iii) Engr Saeed-uz-Zaman (ex-GM, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines); (iv) Ahmed Alman Aslam (ex-banker) ;(v) Professor Imran Alim (professor, Suleman Dawood School of Business, LUMS);(vi), Qaiser Zulfiqar (Agriculturist); (vii) Shakeel Durrani(Chairman, Wapda); (viii) Mushtaq Ahmad (advocate); (ix) Aurangzeb Khan (ex-GM Pakistan Railways; (x) Iqbal Samad Khan (ex-GM Pakistan Railways; and (xi) member, Privatisation Commission Board. Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Pakistan Railways, member and Chief Executive Officer (CFO) will be ex-officio members.
Implementation on earlier decisions of the Cabinet, confirmation of decisions taken by the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet meeting held on January 3, 2012, and presentation on Consumer Price Index in the country to oversee the trend of prices of essential commodities are also part of the agenda. Land surveying and mapping bill 2010, which was deferred by the Cabinet in its meeting on January 4, 2011, will also be considered.