All three members of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) are reportedly lobbying for the lucrative slot of the chairmanship, it has been learned.
The federal cabinet, in the last week of December, approved the appointment of Major Gen (Retd) Amir Azeem Bajwa — former Director General Special Communication Organization (SCO) as Member Technical while Dr. Khawar Saddique Khokhar as Member Compliance.
The previous government of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) had appointed Mohammad Naveed as Member Finance of PTA and he was given the additional charge of chairman at the time.
Sources revealed that a summary was supposed to be moved by the Cabinet Division to the federal cabinet, which met on Thursday, where the names of all three members were to be discussed for the slot of chairman.
However, at the eleventh hour, it was decided to further delay the matter. The summary will now be moved for the upcoming cabinet meeting to be held on Thursday.
As witnessed in the past, Member Technical is usually the chairman of the authority and accordingly the capital is rife with speculations that he may be appointed as chairman this time as well.
However, sources maintained that the wife of one of the members is reportedly the Additional Secretary in the Presidency and is reportedly lobbying for the chairmanship. However, it has also been reported that one of the members has already held meetings in the Prime Minister office.
Sources further revealed info, which was also confirmed by industry sources, that the telecom industry is lobbying for one of the members to be appointed as chairman.
PTA has been functioning on ad hoc basis since more than a year and some important matters including operators’ license renewal and implementation of the telecom policy in letter and spirit is pending.
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