KARACHI – The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday summoned the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) chairman, federal Finance and Law secretaries, the deputy attorney general and other respondents over a petition against the increase in the prices of petroleum products.
After hearing the preliminary comments of Maulvi Iqbal Hyder, the petitioner, a division bench headed by SHC Chief Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany issued notices to the respondents seeking explanation in this regard.
Hyder had submitted that OGRA had illegally increased prices of petroleum products, whereas the government and other relevant authorities failed to control this trend.
The court directed the respondents on Tuesday to submit their comments in the next hearing to be held on January 18.
Hyder pointed out that OGRA had violated Articles 5, 9 and 77 by increasing prices without the approval of the parliament. According to the Constitution, the prices of petroleum and compressed natural gas cannot be raised unless the relevant ministry issues a notification.
He told the court that on December 31, the respondent issued a notification increasing prices of petroleum products by nine percent.
“People will suffer a lot if the notification is not suspended. The recent increase in the prices of petroleum products is without any legal justification and amounts to imposing the highest tax on the citizens.”
He termed OGRA’s decision of price-hike as “illegal and unconstitutional tactics aimed at heavily taxing the people to make their lives miserable and depriving them of their hard-earned income.”
He cited OGRA, the federal government through the Law ministry, the federal secretary for Petroleum, the finance secretary and others as respondents.
He pleaded the court for directing the respondents to provide an explanation for their “gross negligence of duty” as the prices were unilaterally increased.
He also prayed for directing the respondents to withdraw the increase in the prices of petroleum products.
