Two ministries at odds over including lawmaker in TDAP board

In a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Commerce, chaired by Senator Anusha Rehman Khan, it was unanimously agreed to refer the matter of non-appointment of parliamentarians to the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) Board, to the Rules of Procedure and Privilege Committee of the Senate.

The referral for an inquiry came as Senator Bilal Ahmed Khan was referred to the board by the Standing Committee on Commerce, but still awaits a formal notification from the Ministry of Commerce.

Jawad Paul, Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce, stated that the Ministry of Law barred the inclusion of Parliamentarians in any State-Owned Enterprise in 2020, despite the current chair of the board being a parliamentarian. However, the ministry decided to move the summary to the cabinet for their approval, as the TDAP doesn’t fall under the list of SoEs. 

The Senate committee has also previously deliberated on the exclusion of Senator Faisal Rehman from the Board of TDAP, who was referred by the committee on August 10, 2021. The Board was reconstituted two years later, on May 22, 2023, without the inclusion of Faisal Rehman. 

At one point during the meeting, Senator Anusha Rehman questioned the ministry officials for not wanting oversight of the Export Development Fund, to which the ministry official iterated the existence of a mechanism.

Senator Anusha Rehman also raised questions regarding the necessity of cabinet approval for appointing ex-officio members to statutory organizations. She highlighted that typically, parliamentarians when included as ex-officio members, do not require such approvals under normal procedures.

The matter will now be discussed at the Senate Standing Committee on Rules of Procedures and Privileges, and the concerned officials will be able to present their viewpoint, a move supported by Senator Salim Mandviwalla and all other present members of the Senate Standing Committee on Commerce.