A parliamentary committee on Tuesday expressed concern over the continued delay in setting up of a permanent secretariat of Council of Common Interest (CCI) and decided to write to the Prime Minister on the pending proposal awaiting his approval in this connection.
Briefing Senate Functional Committee on Devolution, chaired by Senator Mir Kabeer Shahi, Secretary Ministry of Inter Provincial Co-ordination (IPC) Raja Mohammad Nadir Ali said Article 154 of the Constitution provides that the CCI shall have a permanent secretariat but the fulfilment of this constitutional requirement has however been lingering on since long.
With the passage of 18th amendment, the role of CCI had further been strengthened, he said. He said the CCI in its meeting on March 18, 2015, directed the Ministry of IPC to firm up proposal for strengthening of CCI and establishment of its permanent secretariat. The governments of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhawa have also recommended for establishment of a permanent Secretariat of CCI having provincial representation.
He said the ministry submitted a summary, in that context, for approval of the Prime Minister on 4th June, 2015. In response, the Prime Minister's office on 10th August, 2015 advised to re-formulate the proposal. Accordingly, the Ministry of IPC submitted a reformulated proposal for approval of the Prime Minister on 1st September, 2015, he added.
The Prime Minister's office, however, returned the summary with the advice for its re-submission along with some clarifications. He further said that the ministry submitted its reply and proposed that the Ministry of IPC may be renamed as "Ministry of IPC and CCI Secretariat" and the subject of all Federal Regulatory Authorities may also be transferred to Ministry of IPC.
However, the Prime Minister's office again returned the summary and advised the Ministry to resubmit the case, after examining the merits and demerits. Accordingly, after examining the merits and demerits of the case, a draft reply had been prepared and was under submission to the Prime Minister's office, he added. The secretary further said the Senate through a resolution passed on 19th May, 2016 had also stressed the establishment of a permanent Secretariat of CCI.
After getting the detail briefing, the committee decided to write to the Prime Minister to expedite the process with regard to establishment of the CCI permanent secretariat so that the problem being faced by the provinces in reaching out to the CCI is addressed.
The committee also decided to write to the provinces in light of the briefing given by the Secretary Ministry of IPC to reconfirm whether or not the chief ministers of all the provinces have written to the CCI for various issues being faced to the federating units.
Senator Taj Haider, member of the Senate Functional Committee on Devolution which met here with Mir Kabeer Shahi in the chair, presented a report on the government share holding in various oil and gas projects and companies as well as a copy of the letter to the committee.
Besides these companies, the Senator mentioned in the letter that there is the Government Holdings (Private) Limited (GHPL) which is non-operator but the fifth largest exploration and production company for being the share holders in every foreign concession. Along with the report, the Senator has also attached a report of the case against its managing director in Islamabad High Court challenging his salary of Rs 4.5 million per month. "The previous managing director was drawing Rs 0.6 million but it is incomprehensible why a person is getting such a huge amount in terms of monthly salary whose credentials are also in question in the court," Haider asked.
The chairman of the committee and members took notice of the matter and decided to further discuss the issue in its next meeting. Taj Haider further stated that the government had also placed GHPL on the privatization list. "How can the federal government sell off something of which it is only 50 percent owner? Even if the federal government wants to sell its 50 percent share, the first right of purchase is that of the holder of the balance 50 percent shares," he added.
In the report, he further mentioned that GHPL participated in all joint ventures as non-operator and at present, there were 56 upstream petroleum joint ventures onshore with GHPL working interests; 21 Onshore Exploration Licenses with five percent carried interest and 35 Development and Production Leases with 12.5 percent to 25 percent working interest. He further mentioned that GHPL was non-operating partner with local and foreign oil and gas exploration and production companies functioning as operator. Major operating companies in partnership with GHPL were BP, PHP Billiton, Eni, OMV, Petronas Carigali, Paige, Nikoresources, Hycarbex, MOL, OPII, OGDCL, PPL and PEL, he added.