Auditors have raised objections to the allowances being paid to members and the chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). The government has made an amendment to the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-Organization) Act, which enables civil servants to get allowances.

Sources told The Express Pakinomist that the chairman and members of the PTA were drawing pay under the MP-I and MP-II scales respectively, along with allowances admissible in the upper management ranks, as approved by the finance department through office memorandums dated January 17, 2007 and September 7, 2009.

However, an audit raised objections to the payment of executive pay allowances to the chairman and members and recommended that they should only draw the allowances allowed under the management pay (MP) scales. This divergence between the audit’s point of view and the opinion of the Law and Justice Department created uncertainty about the salary and allowances.

To address this, the PTA, through a letter dated 23 May 2024, requested an amendment to Section 3(7) of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-Organization) Act, 1996 to authorize the Prime Minister to determine the Chairman’s pay package. and members of the PTA.

The PTA was established under Section 3 of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-Organization) 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 members of the authority shall be paid and entitled to the privileges of an officer of the MP-II, and the chairman shall be paid and entitled to that of an officer privileges in MP-I.

The Law and Justice Division clarified through an office note dated 3 August 2021 regarding section 3(7) of the Act that the words “salaries” and “privileges” were not interrelated and should be read separately. The authority’s members and chairman are therefore only entitled to the privileges corresponding to officers in the MP-II and MP-I scales respectively. It was noted that at present the Chairman and members of the PTA are drawing pay in the MP-I and MP-II scales respectively, along with allowances admissible in executive pay grades as approved by the Finance Department.

In this context, it was noted that unlike the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-Organization) Act, 1996, the applicable laws apply to other regulatory authorities under the administrative purview of the Cabinet Department, such as Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), Special Technology Zones Authority (STZA), Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority (Naphda), National Seed Development and Regulatory Authority (NSDRA) and National Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism Authority, empowered the federal government or the Prime Minister to determine the remuneration of their chairmen and members.

In a recent Cabinet meeting, it was highlighted that to remove the ambiguity in the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-Organization) Act regarding the remuneration of the Chairman and the members of PTA and to align the remuneration with other regulatory authorities, the Cabinet Division proposed that Section 3 of the Act (7) is amended to authorize the Federal Government to fix the remuneration package for the chairman and members of the PTA. Accordingly, a draft amendment to the Pakistan Telecommunications (Reorganization) Act was forwarded to the Law Ministry for scrutiny. The Cabinet was informed that the Law Ministry had reviewed the draft Bill with the advice that the Cabinet Department should in principle seek the approval of the Federal Government under Rule 27 read with Rule 18 of the Rules of Business, 1973.

The proposed amendment in Section 3(7) provides that the Chairman and the members of the PTA shall receive such remuneration for their respective terms of office as may be fixed by the Federal Government. Therefore, the government’s approval was sought for the amendment of section 3, subsection of the law. The Cabinet considered a summary entitled “Amendment of Section 3(7) of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-Organisation) Act, 1996”, and approved the proposal.