Politicians unanimous to not renew Musharraf's anti-monopoly ordinance

[Naveed Yaseen]

SOHAIL SARFRAZ & ZAHEER ABBASI
ISLAMABAD (November 18 2009): The government may be dealing with the Chairman of Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP), Khalid Mirza's recalcitrance through allowing the Competition Ordinance 2007 to lapse. This was stated by a high level bureaucrat. The Prime Minister had sacked Khalid Mirza, through a notification issued by the Establishment Division on September 4, 2009.

He was restored by the Prime Minister subsequent to a public outcry within 24 hours. Khalid has been much in the news during the past year and a half as he took on various cartels, including sugar, LPG, cement, stock exchanges, banking, etc. The decision to sack him by the Prime Minister was seen by the public as indicative of the 'influence' exerted by these cartels on the country's chief executive.

Mirza has urged the President to re-promulgate the Competition Ordinance 2007, as it is unlikely to be approved by November 28 when it would lapse, with the National Assembly prorogued sine die, and the bill sent back to a newly constituted subcommittee by the Speaker for further deliberations.

Mirza told Business Recorder here on Tuesday that the Competition Ordinance 2007 must be re-promulgated, keeping in view the proliferation of cartels in different sectors and to ensure economic efficiency in the interests of the consumers. "The Ordinance was duly approved by the National Assembly standing committee on finance, but was not taken up by the National Assembly due to other more important business in the Parliament", Mirza said, diplomatically.

During the National Assembly session, the issue of the Ordinance, and the need to amend it, was raised by Kashmala Tariq of PML-Q. She was supported by Khwaja Asif of PML (N) and a member of the Treasury Bench. All sides of the political divide were seen to be supportive of amending the ordinance that might have repercussions on the ability of the CCP to perform its functions effectively.

Sources told Business Recorder that the Competition Ordinance 2007 was sent back to Law Ministry for approval/vetting, twice: first time when it was originally promulgated in 2007, and then more recently when the Speaker of National Assembly sent it to the Law Ministry. No changes were made by the Ministry, either time. The chairman of the NA standing committee, Fauzia Wahab, confirmed to Business Recorder about the constitution of the committee and indicated that the law might be amended by the subcommittee.

She said that representatives of cartels were resisting the law, and opposition was evident during the session of the National Assembly. She added that it was surprising that not a single political party in the National Assembly raised its voice in support of the CCP. "This is perhaps the first issue where there is unanimity in parliament apart from the war on terror." So stated a high level bureaucrat.

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