KARACHI – A constitutional petition was filed in the Sindh High Court on Friday against the government’s announcement of increase in prices of petroleum products by 10 percent. The petition was filed by Iqbal Haider pleading the court that the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) be restrained over hiking of petroleum prices and such acts termed illegal and unconstitutional.
The petitioner had already filed the petition on that same issue recently but the government took back its decision and reduced the prices, therefore, he withdrew his application. Haider submitted that OGRA had increased the petroleum prices illegally with immediate effect, while the government and other authorities concerned failed to control the situation.
He pointed out that the OGRA violated articles 77, 5 and 9 by increasing the prices without any approval from the elected parliament, adding that according to the Constitution, the prices of petroleum and CNG could not be raised unless a notification from the ministry concerned was issued. Terming the OGRA’s decision over price hike as illegal and unconstitutional, he stated that the tactics were aimed at heavily taxing people that would make their lives miserable, adding that people were being illegally deprived of their hard-earned income.
“The people at large would suffer a lot if the notification was not suspended. The recent increase in prices of petroleum products was without any legal justification and amounted to imposing the highest tax,” he added. He stated that on February 28, the respondent issued a notification increasing the prices of petroleum products by 9.9 per cent on average.
Citing the OGRA, the federal government through Law Ministry, the federal Petroleum secretary, the Finance secretary among others as respondents, Haider pleaded that the court directs the respondents to give an explanation on the gross negligence of duty as the prices were increased unilaterally. The petitioner also prayed the court that the respondents be directed to restrict the increase in petroleum prices.
