Senate panel refers DISCO privatisation to CCI, cites constitutional violations

Profit by Pakistan Today reported that a Senate sub-committee on devolution has asked that the planned sale of power distribution companies, known as DISCOs, go before the Council of Common Interests (CCI). The panel, chaired by Senator Zamir Hussain Ghumro, argues that a sale without the CCI's consent would breach Articles 154 and 157 of the Constitution. It bases this position on a 1993 apex court ruling in the Mian Nawaz Sharif case.

The sub-committee named six firms: IESCO, FESCO, LESCO, GEPCO, SEPCO and HESCO. It held that any step by the Power Division or the Privatisation Commission to sell them without CCI approval would directly contravene the Constitution. Senator Ghumro added that the provinces should ideally hold these DISCOs.

The panel also faulted the federal government for keeping authority over subjects in Part II of the Federal Legislative List, such as power, oil and gas, rail, seaports and regulators. In its view, these matters should sit with the CCI via Article 154, not with the federal cabinet. Finally, it proposed rebuilding the CCI on an equal footing for all provinces and insisted that matters within its jurisdiction stay out of cabinet hands.