Ministry of Water and Power, has reportedly sent a summary to the Cabinet Division on amendments to the Nepra's Act 1997, without waiting for formal consent of provincial governments on the proposed amendments, sources close to Minister for Water and Power told Business Recorder.
The Council of Common Interests (CCI), in its decision on May 2, 2017 granted in principle approval to the proposed amendments to the Generation, Transmission and Distribution of the Electric Power Act, 1997 (Nepra Act) subject to final clearance in a meeting to be held between the Minister of Water and Power and the Provincial Chief Ministers.
Consequently, a meeting was held at the Ministry of Water & Power on May 9, 2017 which was attended by the Federal Minister for Water and Power, Chief Ministers of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well as senior representatives of the Governments of Punjab and Balochistan. Outstanding concerns of the Provincial Governments on the draft amendments to the Nepra Act were addressed in the meeting, in light of which it was mutually agreed to make some further modifications to the proposed amendments. Accordingly, a consensus draft matrix of proposed amendments was prepared and circulated to the Provincial Governments on May 10, 2017.
The sources said the written concurrence of the Provincial governments to the matrix of proposed amendments is still awaited. However, since this is a case subject to certain deadlines, as noted by the Finance Division, Water and Power Ministry has proposed that further Provincial Governments' input, if any, may be incorporated at the stage of finalising the draft Bill before its submission to the Law and Justice Division.
In the meantime, on the basis of the consensus reached in the Chief Ministers meeting of May 9, 2017, a draft Bill of the proposed amendments to the Nepra Act containing statement of objects and reasoning as well as tabular summary for amendments may be given in-principle approval by the Cabinet in accordance with rule 27(1) of the Rules of Business 1973 before submission to Law and Justice Division for vetting.
Water and Power Ministry has further proposed that the Cabinet, while granting in-principle approval, should also dispense with the requirements of rule 5(a) of the Rules regarding re-submission of the case to the Cabinet for approval of the draft Bill after being vetted by the Law and Justice Division.
"Since substantial consultation has already been undertaken between the relevant Ministries of the Federal Government during the course of development of the draft amendments, this is an appropriate case to allow such dispensation," the sources quoted Ministry of Water and Power as saying in the draft summary.
Ministry of Water and Power, in a clever move, had taken the donors on board prior to move to the CCI and the key role in this regard had been played by the then Secretary Water and Power Younas Dagha. With the approval of these amendments, Water and Power Ministry intends to "oust" incumbent politically appointed members and install power sector experts.