ISLAMABAD: The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has decided to dismantle its Enforcement Department and put the entire responsibility of enforcement of regulation activities on the shoulders of Oil, CNG and LPG departments of the authority.
The office order issued on January 5, 2017, available with Pakistan Today discloses that OGRA has taken a decision to dismantle its Enforcement Department and immediately transfer the officials and staff of the department. Also, for the enforcement of regulation activities, respective parent departments, Oil, CNG and LPG, have been given powers to carry out the task.
“Keeping in view the increased workload and optimum utilisation of manpower, the authority has decided to dismantle the Enforcement Department. Hence, from now onwards, enforcement of regulated activities pertaining to Oil, CNG and LPG sectors shall be carried out by the respective departments in accordance with the applicable rules, regulations and license conditions,” reads OGRA’s office order.
The officer order also reveals transfers of Executive Director (ED) Sohail Ahmad Tariq to oil department as ED, Deputy Executive Director (DED) Iftikhar Mehmood has also been transferred to the oil department as DED, DED Aziz Ullah Khan has been transferred to LPG department, DED Msd Uzma Ashfaq transferred to CNG department and Assistant Executive Director (AED) Shoaib Malik transferred to the CNG department. Similarly, AED Naseer Muhammad has been transferred to LPG department meanwhile, Executive Secretary Muhammad Qasim has also been transferred to the oil department. Moreover, two office attendants of the enforcement department have also been transferred.
The above-mentioned officers have been requested to report to their new places of posting on an immediate basis. Further, the above officers have been requested to complete pending assigned tasks and submit reports, if any accordingly, said the office order.
While commenting on the office order, official sources on condition of anonymity remarked that this move to dismantle the enforcement department is likely to give relief to Oil, CNG, and LPG defaulters who are facing heavy penalties. They said that the fines imposed are likely to be null and void after this move, however, OGRA should impose policies to impose this does not happen. They, however, lauded the work done by the enforcement department. In last three months, approximately Rs 8.5 million were recovered as fine from PSO.
