- The opinion requires explanations on triple wages without the government’s approval.
- The senatorial committee examines the increase in unauthorized salary of NEPRA.
- The secretary of the cabinet indicates that the hike violates article 8 of the NEPRA Act.
Islamabad: The federal government has published a notice of justification at the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) to unilaterally increase wages without approval.
During a meeting of the Senate Committee on the permanence of the cabinet secretariat, chaired by Rana Mahmood-Ul-Hassan, government representatives confirmed that the NEPRA had received the opinion on the increase in unauthorized wages.
The president and members of the National Power Regulating Authority had almost tripled their wages without obtaining the necessary approval of the federal cabinet.
According to sources, any increase in wages requires the approval of the cabinet, but NEPRA officials have bypassed this process, increasing wages from RS2 million to RS2.2 million.
Cabinet secretary Kamran Ali Afzal said the NEPRA had been invited to provide reasons for the increase in wages. He added that the increase had violated article 8 of the Nepra law and that the authority must submit a written explanation for its decision.
AFZAL also stressed that all regulatory organizations are the court of the Prime Minister or the Federal Cabinet.
The increase has been implemented under the pretext of ad hoc help and regulatory allowances. A revised notification issued in October 2023 established the total salary and the benefits of Rs1 million.
According to sources, the president of NEPRA and the four members are the MP-I pay scale. After this increase, the president’s salary exceeded RS3.2 million, while the four members now receive up to 2.9 million rupees each.
Talk to Geo News On Tuesday, the former president of Nepra, Tauseef H Farooqi, said that during his mandate, which lasted until August 2023, his monthly salary Total was 790,000 rupees. He added that the members of NEPRA at the time received 740,000 rupees per month.
Farooqi said that only the federal cabinet had the power to approve salary increases for NEPRA officials.