The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday issued notices to all respondents in a petition challenging an amendment to the Oil & Gas Regularity Authority (OGRA) Ordinance that empowers the Authority to determine the maximum sale price of compressed natural gas (CNG).
An SHC division bench headed by Justice Maqbool Baqar conducted a hearing on a petition filed by United Human Rights Commission of Pakistan General Secretary Rana Faizul Hasan.
Hasan cited as respondents the federal law secretary, the federal communications minister, the federal petroleum & natural resources minister, the OGRA chairman, the Sindh chief secretary and the Sui Southern Gas Company managing director.
The petitioner submitted a report on the recent hike in prices of Petroleum, Oil & Lubricants (POL), and said an amendment was made to the OGRA Ordinance in 2002 and implemented on February 17, 2009 after adding Section 43-B that empowers the Authority to revise the price of CNG, natural gas and fuel products.
However, he added, the amendment to the ordinance was not tabled in the National Assembly to make it a permanent law, whereas the ordinance’s time period was 120 days, but three years have passed since then.
He said POL prices are dependent on the international market, as these products are imported from other countries, but natural gas is being produced in Sindh and Balochistan, and it is neither being imported nor exported.
The Pakistani government wanted all public vehicles to run on gas, and 70 percent of them have installed a CNG kit, but the price of gas has increased five times in a year.
The petitioner said the increase is against the greater public interest, following which the bench issued notices to all the respondents and the deputy attorney general of Pakistan.
