The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) faces a leadership crisis after a member resigned following Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) interrogation over Rs14 billion in questionable petroleum payments.
According to the media reports, the government is simultaneously moving to place civil servants in charge of the autonomous regulator through a presidential ordinance.
Ogra Member (Oil) Zainul Abideen Qureshi tendered his resignation last week after returning from Karachi, where FIA officials questioned him in sessions spanning over 72 hours.
The investigation centred on controversial price differential claim payments made to an oil marketing company following subsidised oil pricing arrangements during the US-Iran war.
FIA investigators found evidence of misreported oil stocks and sales figures, apparently manipulated to secure pricing advantages.
The agency identified approximately Rs14 billion in payments as questionable, though oil firm Go Petroleum obtained a stay order against the FIA probe from the Sindh High Court.
The federal government subsequently formed a ministerial committee to examine the integrity of the price differential payments. The panel, led by an additional secretary of the Ministry of Finance, includes representatives from the petroleum division, FBR, office of the auditor general, and Ogra.
On April 8, the government appointed Establishment Secretary Nabeel Ahmed Awan as Ogra chairman for three months, filling a post that had remained vacant for 18 months.
The appointment came without legal cover under existing Ogra law, which requires a different appointment procedure. Member (Gas) Shahzad Iqbal, who had assumed the chairmanship under the existing law, was removed from the acting role ahead of the appointment of Awan.
Awan subsequently brought in at least two more civil service officers on deputation, including Majid Mohsin Panhwar of BS-20 and Imran Ali Sultan of BS-18. His original appointment has been challenged in the Islamabad High Court.
To provide legal cover for these appointments, the cabinet committee on legislative cases has cleared amendments to the Ogra law.
The changes would allow BS-21 and BS-22 civil servants to serve as Ogra chairman for four-year terms, extendable for a second term, along with formal provisions for civil servant secondments.
The government plans to enact the amendments through a presidential ordinance ahead of parliamentary budget sessions later this week, before courts can take up the pending legal challenge.
