Pak to replace power chiefs after CJ retires: report

Pakistan has told International Monetary Fund (IMF) that as part of energy sector reforms, it would replace chiefs of power generation and distribution companies after Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry retires, a media report said today.

 

The Chief Justice has frequently passed orders to ensure transparency and to follow protocols aimed at ensuring merit in appointments at critical positions.

 

The government informed the visiting IMF team head Jeffery Franks that it would replace the heads of power sector companies after the retirement of the CJP in mid-December, Express Tribune said, quoting sources.

 

The decision to delay the move was taken in view of an increasing tendency among civil servants to approach the courts, it said.

 

The government is reported to have convinced the IMF team head of its argument. The report Franks' team has produced after conclusion of the $ 6.7 billion loan agreement indicates this development.

 

In the report, IMF wrote, "the recent record of interventions by the Supreme Court in economic and administrative issues may be another source of uncertainty" to the programme, the daily reported.

 

During an interaction with leading economists, Franks has mentioned the issue of appointments.

 

He also mentioned he was on board the government's plan to delay appointments to avoid risks of being struck down by the apex court, sources said.

 

As part of multi-tier energy sector reforms, the government is bound to reduce line losses, power theft and improve collection, which according to officials, was not possible without removing the top management of the power distribution companies.

 

In the first phase of reforms, the government massively increased electricity tariffs, burdening the middle class the most which it later rolled back after facing opposition from the Supreme Court.

 

It had also formed a commission that was in charge of making appointments in the public sector.

 

However, appointments of chief executive officers of power generation and distribution companies were not in the commission's portfolio, the commission's chairman Rauf Chaudhry told the daily.