ISLAMABAD:
Auditors have raised objections to the payment of per diem to members and chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). The government has made an amendment to the Pakistan Telecommunication (Reorganization) Act, allowing officials to get allowances.
Sources told The Express PAkGazette that the PTA president and members were receiving salaries as per MP-I and MP-II scales, respectively, along with admissible allowances in senior executive grades, as approved by the Finance Division. via office memos dated January 17. 2007 and September 7, 2009.
However, an audit raised objections to the payment of senior executive grade allowances to the chairman and members, recommending that they should collect only allowances admissible under the management (MP) pay scales. This divergence between the audit opinion and the opinion of the Law and Justice Division created ambiguity about salary and benefits.
To address this, the PTA, through a letter dated May 23, 2024, sought an amendment to Section 3(7) of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Reorganization) Act, 1996 to authorize the Prime Minister to determine the President’s salary package. and PTA members.
The PTA was established under Section 3 of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Reorganization) Act, 1996. The authority consists of four members, one of whom is appointed as Chairman with the approval of the federal government.
Section 3(7) of the Act relates to the salary and privileges of the chairman and members of the authority, and provides that the members of the authority shall receive the salary and be entitled to the privileges of an officer in MP-II, and the president will receive a remuneration and be entitled to the privileges of an MP-I official.
The Division of Law and Justice, through an office memorandum dated August 3, 2021 on Section 3(7) of the Act, clarified that the words “salary” and “privileges” were not interconnected and were to be read separately. separate. Therefore, the members and the president of the authority are only entitled to privileges equivalent to officials at the MP-II and MP-I scales, respectively. It was noted that currently the President and members of the PTA were receiving salaries in the MP-I and MP-II scales respectively along with admissible allowances in the senior executive grades as approved by the Finance Division.
In this context, it was observed that unlike the Pakistan Telecommunication (Reorganization) Act, 1996, the laws governing other regulatory authorities under the administrative ambit of the Cabinet Division such as the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority ( Ogra), National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), Special Technological Zones Authority (STZA), Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority (Naphda), National Regulatory and Development Authority Seed Authority (NSDRA) and National Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Authority authorized the federal government or the prime minister to determine the remuneration of its chairmen and members.
In a recent cabinet meeting, it was highlighted that to remove ambiguity in the Pakistan Telecommunication (Reorganisation) Act with respect to the remuneration of the Chairman and members of the PTA and to align the remuneration with other regulatory authorities, the Division of the Cabinet proposed that Section 3(7) of the Act be amended to authorize the federal government to determine the remuneration package for the president and members of the PTA. Accordingly, a draft amendment to the Pakistan Telecommunication (Reorganization) Act was referred to the Ministry of Justice for investigation. The Cabinet was informed that the Law Ministry had examined the Bill with the advice that the Cabinet Division should seek approval, in principle, from the Federal Government in terms of Rule 27 read with Rule 18 of the Rules of Business of 1973.
The proposed amendment in Section 3(7) is that the president and members of the PTA shall receive such remuneration for their respective terms as may be determined by the federal government. Accordingly, cabinet approval was sought for the amendment of section 3(7) of the law. The cabinet considered a summary titled “Amendment to Section 3(7) of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Reorganization) Act, 1996” and approved the proposal.
