Parliament’s State Owned Enterprises Committee has initiated an inquiry after Privatization and Corporatization Board (PCB) issued a circular on October 5, instructing to not start any new projects or hire new employees for the time being.
The SOE committee summoned PCB members to the committee meeting on Wednesday for questioning in connection with this issue.
Ahmed Easa, Chairman of the SOE committee, said that after the presidential election, PCB has been issuing directives to prevent state-owned companies from operating. He asked whether such a directive had been issued to the companies and what legal grounds they had to issue such a directive.
Vice President of the PCB, Ahmed Firaaz, said that the quorum of the board is five members, and currently, there are only four members in the body. The PCB is required to have seven members on its board.
Regarding this issue, Easa said that PCB meetings cannot be held right now because they do not have the required number of members to meet its quorum. He questioned whether the board can issue a circular such as this without convening a meeting.
"There is no reason to issue a circular be issued on how companies should function, specifically for the time being. Companies should always be operated within the regulations. Until this administration ends on November 17, there is no rule in law to do certain things at a particular stage,” he said.
Other members of the government have additionally questioned the PCB on this issue as well.
Firaz stated that the PBC is an independent board that is free from political interference. He said that the board's decisions are always made in accordance with the law and in the best interests of the country. The board typically decides matters in two ways, but both the board and the person at the helm of affairs have been issuing circulars, and they are free to do so as well, he said.
"We have been receiving a lot of complaints and objections from people. On October 4, after consulting the administrative staff, I reviewed the procedure followed by the PCB in the past and issued a circular protecting everyone's interest as the quorum of the board was not met," he said.
Firaaz said a circular was sent on last Wednesday, and after companies contacted them to enquire about the circular, a more detailed one was issued on Thursday.
He said that though no new project is to be started, projects that have already begun their work in any way will not be affected.
- To refrain from conducting activities outside of the company's usual business dealings.
- To refrain from implementing entirely new initiatives in the company, especially those that include significant expenses.
- To not change company regulations that will affect the company’s revenue.
- To not change company regulations pertaining to its employees.
- To not make any changes to the company regulations regarding increasing employees salary and allowances.
Sign In