Islamabad June 22 (TNS): The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday summoned Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad on August 1 to apprise the court why the government issued a second notification placing five regulatory bodies under line ministries in violation of the court order.
While hearing a contempt of court petition filed by the Pakistan Justice and Democratic Party against the federal government, IHC judge Athar Minallah suspended the notification issued by the government for the second on June 6.
The petitioner, Muhammad Nawaz, had filed a contempt petition against the federal government for not implementing an earlier order of the IHC that had set aside a government notification placing the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, the Frequency Allocation Board and the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority under the line ministries.
The petitioner had sought contempt proceedings against Fawad and Cabinet Division Joint Secretary Iram Anjum Khan for not implementing the court order.
During the hearing, the judge asked if an approval from the Council of Common Interests (CCI) was sought for issuing the second notification. The judge observed that the notification had been issued by playing with words after the previous notification was struck down by the court.
The judge also ordered to produce the CCI meeting summary which led the government to reissue the notification after the first one was declared illegal by the court.
In March, Justice Minallah annulled the government’s December 2016 notification which placed the regulatory bodies under the line ministries.
