Islamabad:
A panel of the Senate decided Thursday to withdraw the legal powers from the councils of the Central Bank and the regulator of the equity market to fix the wages of their senior executives, after an exorbitant increase in the remuneration packages of the securities commission and the exchange of managers of Pakistan (SECP) shocked the legislators.
The secretary of the ministry of Law and justice, Raja Naeem Akbar, supported the decision of the Senate Committee of the Finance Committee to modify the law of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the SECP law to withdraw the authority of their councils to fix the wages of the leaders.
Directed by Senator Saleem Mandviwalla of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the Committee called the President of SECP, Akif Saeed, to inform the issue of retrospective increases in his salary and that of the SECP commissioners.
On the recommendation of Senator Anusha Rahman, the Committee unanimously decided to move changes in the two laws – the SECP law and the SBP law. The legal secretary assured the committee that the indications have been modified to withdraw the powers from the councils.
Rahman, according to his work, told the committee that out of 18 regulators, wages of only three were fixed by their advice, while the compensation packages of the other 15 were approved by the federal office.
On Tuesday, the Public Accounts Committee (CAP) also expressed “shocks” on information that the president of the SECP achieved an annual salary of 41 million rupees. The Daily Dawn reported that an audit had raised serious concerns concerning the finances of the SECP, in particular unauthorized remuneration increases for its president and the commissioners amounting to more than 156 million rupees per year.
The report indicated that the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) judged that by virtue of the law, SECP had to obtain the approval of the Ministry of Finance for the wage increases. However, the management of the SECP approved increases of its employees at a meeting of the board of directors on October 1, 2024, from July 1, 2023.
On Monday, the CAP asked how a country in an economic crisis could afford such plans. The audit revealed that the salary of the president of the SECP, Akif Saeed, had reached 41.53 million rupees for 24 in 2010, while each commissioner received 35.8 million rupees due to rear increases. He also revealed that the SECP illegally distributed RS110 million in entertainment benefits to commissioners and staff.
The president of the SECP defended the decision of the board of directors to increase his salary, saying that he was fully authorized to act and made his decision on the basis of a market survey.
“The authority to increase the salary was used to unscatm,” said former minister of Law Senator Farooq H Naek.
The president of the permanent committee, Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, added that the president of the FBR, Rashid Langrial, also made such decisions. But Langrial, who was present at the meeting, denied it.
“My salary is a seventh of the president of the SECP,” said Dr. Kabir Sidhu, president of the Pakistan Competition Committee (CCP), who was also present. He noted that the PCC, also a regulator, cannot fix wages without approval of the government.
The president of the FBR said that he was not an unhindered right to increase wages at will and that the advice had to define a process before determining the increase in wages.
Legal secretary Raja Naeem Akbar, also a member of the SECP board of directors, revealed that the Directorate of SECP had recommended the increases, which the Commission accepted after months of discussion.
Senator Rahman criticized the Ministry of Finance for granting this powers to the SECP and SBP councils by creating exceptions. She said that no one could abuse public funds in the name of autonomy and freedom. Senator Naek stressed that even the Supreme Court of Pakistan cannot fix the salaries of the judges, which are fixed by the president of Pakistan on the advice of the Prime Minister.
The Daily Dawn also reported in February of this year that senior officials of the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) had considerably increased their remuneration without compulsory approval from the firm.
The report indicates that the presidents and members of regulatory organizations are normally entitled to a maximum management position scale (MP), with a basic salary of 629,000 Rs to 772,780 rupees per month.
But after self-approved increases, the gross monthly salary of the President of Nepra reached almost 3.25 million rupees, while the salaries of senior officials reached around 2.95 million rupees, in accordance with the Aube report.
