Supreme Court rejects CNG price-hike formula

Rejecting a request submitted by the CNG station owners seeking an increase in the price of per kilogram price of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), the Supreme Court sought records pertaining to the details of their tariff accounts.

A two-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Jawwad S Khawaja resumed hearing of the case pertaining to the price of CNG. Salman Akram Raja, the counsel for Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), presented his arguments before the bench.

The bench sought records pertaining to the tariff accounts of 3395 CNG stations, questioning the existence of filling stations operating without licenses and asking four questions in this regard.

The first query related to the number of requests the OGRA had received for CNG stations licenses, followed by the second question regarding the number of licenses issued by the regulatory authority.

In the third and fourth questions, the court inquired about the number of license requests rejected by OGRA and the number of licenses pocketed by station owners.

Justice Khawaja in his remarks termed the CNG association as a cartel, adding that the government appeared to oblige to the demands made by the so-called cartel. He further said that the court was not concerned with whether or not the cabinet had the issue of CNG pricing formula on its agenda and that the court and the parliament had their own respective powers.

OGRA’s counsel informed the court that the new pricing was formulated after including the input from public hearings and stakeholders.

Justice Hussain said the matter was in the courts and a section of society was being severely affected by it, adding that, the ministry of petroleum should attend to the issue for the sake of public interest.

Lawyer for the Sindh CNG association, Dr Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, said that the price of CNG was completely deregulated and that neither the courts nor the ministry of petroleum had the authority to decide the price of CNG. The hearing was later adjourned to Dec 6 (Thursday).

OGRA Chairman Saeed Ahmed on Wednesday said that they have failed to reach a consensus over the new CNG prices with All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA).

Talking to media outside the court, the chairman said that they would present a new CNG pricing formula in SC on next hearing decreasing the prices as compared to earlier mentioned in the formula of November 19.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Dec 5 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.