- The notice seeks an explanation of triplication wages without government approval.
- The Senate Committee reviews the unauthorized salary increase in Nepr.
- The secretary of the Cabinet says that the walk violates section 8 of the NEPRA law.
Islamabad: The Federal Government has issued a notice of the cause of presentation to the National Regulatory Authority of Electric Power (Nepra) to unilaterally increase salaries without approval.
During a meeting of the Senate Permanent Committee on the Cabinet Secretariat, chaired by Rana Mahmood-Ul-Hassan, government officials confirmed that Neprol had received the notice on the unauthorized salary walk.
The president and members of the Power National Authority had almost tripled their salaries without obtaining the necessary approval of the federal cabinet.
According to the sources, any salary increase requires the approval of the cabinet, but nepring officials overlooked this process, which increases salaries at RS2 million to RS2.2 million.
The secretary of the Cabinet, Kamran Ali Afzal, said that Nepra had been asked to provide reasons for the salary walk. He added that the increase violated section 8 of the Neprol Law, and the authority must present a written explanation for its decision.
AFZAL also emphasized that all regulatory bodies are under the jurisdiction of the prime minister or the federal cabinet.
The increase was implemented under the pretext of ad hoc relief and regulatory assignments. A reviewed notification issued in October 2023 established the total salary and benefits in RS1 million.
According to the sources, the president of Nepra and the four members fall under the salary scale of MP-I. After the increase, the president’s salary has exceeded RS3.2 million, while the four members now receive up to RS2.9 million each.
Talking with Geographical news On Tuesday, the former president of Nepra, Tauseef H Farooqi, declared that during his mandate, which lasted until August 2023, his total monthly salary was RS790,000. He added that the members of Nepra at that time received RS740,000 per month.
Farooqi said that only the federal cabinet had the authority to approve salary increases for nepring officials.
