CCI decides to establish a permanent secretariat

By Staff Reporter
Thursday – April 8, 2021
ISLAMABAD: The council of common interests (CCI) decided to establish a permanent secretariat of CCI, Wednesday, as required under Article 154(3) of the Constitution, and held that this is for the first time that a permanent secretariat will be established to meet the long overdue Constitutional requirement.

According to a press release, the prime minister (PM) Imran Khan chaired the 44th meeting of the CCI in the federal capital.

The meeting approved national electric power regulatory authority’s (NEPRA) annual report for 2019-20 and state of industry report 2020.

The CCI approved amendment in petroleum (exploration and production) policy 2012.

Implementation report of the previously taken decisions of CCI was also presented before the meeting.

On notifying census-2017 results, it was decided to hold a virtual meeting on Monday to take final decision on the issue.

As directed by 43rd meeting of the CCI, the observations of the provinces were incorporated into NEPRA’s annual report 2018-19 and state of industry report, 2019 and the reports presented before the meeting were approved.

On the issue of import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and implementation of Article 158 and 172(3) of the Constitution, it was decided to constitute a committee comprising of minister for planning, minister for energy and special assistant to PM (SAPM) for power and petroleum to hold consultations with the provinces so as to evolve a consensus on the way forward in meeting the challenge of dwindling local gas reserves and increasing domestic gas requirements.

It was decided during the meeting that the higher education commission (HEC) will be the sole standard setting national organisation with regard to higher education in the country.

HEC will strengthen its regional centres for better representation and coordination with the provinces.

In order to further improve ease of doing business (EoDB) and harmonisation of quality and standards countrywide, it was decided that provinces will notify harmonised standards set by Pakistan Standard and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) by repealing their own standards.

It was also agreed that harmonisation of standards, standardised labelling and certification marks logo will remain exclusive domain of PSQCA.

On the issue of distribution of Zakat funds to the provinces/federal areas in wake of 25th Constitutional Amendment, the meeting, while agreeing on Zakat distribution fund formula, decided that after merger of federally administered tribal areas (FATA) into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Zakat funds for the area, as per the agreed formula, will be transferred to KP province for distribution among the deserving people of the merged districts.


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