Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP)

ISLAMABAD: The Competition Commission Ordinance 2009 may lapse again because the Senate Standing Committee on Finance has refused to approve the draft of the proposed bill earlier cleared by the National Assembly’s standing committee.

If the draft is not passed by the Senate committee it will have to be forwarded to another committee of parliament to work out a consensus.

The ordinance which was re-promulgated by the president in December is scheduled to lapse on March 26. Because of severe objections by members of the opposition it could not be approved by the upper house and was referred to the Senate Committee on Finance. This committee is not expected to meet before March 29 because its chairman Ahmed Ali and some members are abroad and not expected to return before the end of the month.

The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) Chairman, Khalid Mirza, on Wednesday said the objections raised within or outside parliament to the Competition law made no sense and some elements of vested interests were trying to mislead the representatives of the people of Pakistan.

Talking to newsmen here, the CCP chairman, who seems quite cautious on bids to curtail the Commission’s powers, said: “It is important that our law continues to be enforced or everything that we have accomplished so far will be truly futile and our country’s economic productivity will continue to be stagnant as it has for the past many, many years.”

“A variety of mafias and vested interests, which include some of the parties against whom we have acted or proceeded against, are doing their best to either effectively destroy the law or weaken the commission,” he further said.

He added that he had seen in many countries that the people against the competition regime are powerful and voluble whereas supporting it are weak, lukewarm and very much less vocal. “It is imperative that the media, civil society, right thinking business elements and above all our government, understand the benefits of this law to the country and our economy and lend full support to its continued enforcement in its present shape and form,” he concluded.

However, some CCP officials questioned that why the government, despite having majority on the day of tabling the bill in the Senate, opted to remain silent instead of asking for voting when certain members asked to refer the bill to the Standing Committee for another review on the draft which was already passed by the Lower House.

The Senate has referred this bill to its Standing Committee in which the PML-Q, PPP and PML-N members are going to give tough time to its approval through smooth passage. Citing examples, the officials said that when the bill was tabled in the Senate a few days back, senators Haroon Akhtar, Wasim Sajjad and Ishaq Dar opposed the bill and asked the chairman to refer it to the Standing Committee for another review.

The CCP viewed that a severe blow was already done to it by allowing high courts for having right of appeal against the orders given by them. Earlier, only the Supreme Court could hear appeals and it was the view of the CCP that it would result into long delays in implanting the orders against cartels.